Nathan Fielder's Elizabeth Holmes documentary "You Can See Everything" opened in U.S. theaters on October 16 with a stunning 99 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes — and critics are already calling it a contender for the best-picture Oscar, an almost unheard-of honor for a documentary.
A Secret Three-Year Project
The film, co-directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim (whose credits include Some Kind of Heaven and HBO's Ren Faire) and distributed by A24, began in April 2023 — 34 days before Holmes reported to prison — when she and her partner Billy Evans invited the film crew to live with them in their Del Mar rental near San Diego. Fielder stayed in their guest house for about a month with a crew of around seven, documenting her final weeks of freedom.
The project stayed secret for roughly three years, with A24 backing it with no guarantee of release. It premiered as a surprise secret screening at the 53rd Telluride Film Festival on September 6, 2026 (audience phones locked in pouches, no one told what film they were seeing), then opened theatrically on October 16 in 855 U.S. theaters. It runs 174 minutes, with a UK and Ireland release set for November 20.
What the Film Reveals
A24's official synopsis describes it this way: "Thirty-four days before she's sent to prison, notorious Silicon Valley founder Elizabeth Holmes invites a skeptical film crew to document her every move. What begins as an intimate portrait of an enigmatic felon becomes a mind-bending three-year journey into the abyss."
Holmes maintains her innocence on camera ("I am always honest"), but the film later uncovers Evans requesting payment and a profit-sharing deal with the filmmakers (relinquished before release), alongside his controlling behavior toward the production. Communication between the filmmakers and the couple broke down late in production, and as of October 2026 neither Holmes nor Evans had seen the finished film. During filming, the paranoid crew even bought a device to check whether the guest house was bugged.
The Dropout star Amanda Seyfried appears as herself and as Holmes in reenactments, while Christopher Abbott plays Evans in reconstructions.
The Year's Best-Reviewed Film
The numbers are extraordinary: 99% on Rotten Tomatoes (110 reviews, 9.3/10 average) and 99 on Metacritic (37 critics, "universal acclaim"), making it the best-reviewed film of 2026. The New York Times' Manohla Dargis wrote it makes "a case for being the first doc in 100 years to get into the Oscar race for best picture"; The Guardian called it "a modern masterpiece of deceit."
On a $7 million budget, it made $5.5 million on its first day (including $1.8 million in Thursday previews), with weekend estimates raised to $12–14 million. Holmes herself was convicted in November 2022 on four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy over Theranos's false blood-testing claims, sentenced to 11 years and 3 months, and is projected for release in August 2032.
The takeaway: The film's signature line — Holmes asking Fielder, wide-eyed, "Why would I deceive you?" — has already become a viral meme. Whether Holmes conned the cameras or the cameras conned Holmes, critics agree this is the unmissable documentary of the year.
🎬 Watch: The official trailer for "You Can See Everything" by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Life of Riley (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0