You Can See Everything: Full Dark, Five Stars
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
Truth is a spectrum. On one part of the spectrum we have Night, Elie Wiesel's famous, critically-acclaimed memoir on his experiences in Nazi concentration camps. Later on in his life, he was criticized for making up some details in the book.
But ultimately most people agree that the details don't matter, because the big messages that were presented as The Truth are still substantially true: real people suffered during the Holocaust, no human being deserves this, and this should never happen again. Very few people come away remembering the names of specific individuals who show up throughout the story, so it's not a big deal that many of those specific individuals never actually existed - they were based on real people and real events, but those real people and real events didn't exactly happen in a way that would make for a compelling, memorable story. It's not like the ugliness or the d i s c om f o rt was washed away or sanitized; After all, Wiesel confesses his darkest thoughts throughout the story, revealing that when his ailing father died in the camps, a part of him felt a sense of relief and joy at the thought that he would no longer have to look after a burden. Ultimately, to most people, nothing was meaningfully lost and no sin was committed in the refinement of this work. To quote Norm MacDonald: "It's fiction, but it's the truth."
Whether we as human beings care to admit it or not, we all believe in some form of telling the truth through fiction. So on another part of the spectrum, we have you. You'll rearrange parts of a funny story to tell to friends so it can flow better, leaving out certain names to protect the innocent. When you vent to your therapist about your failed romantic relationships, you'll leave out details that might make the therapist sympathize with your ex - not because you're trying to hide anything, but because this is your story, your time, your memories of pain, and The Truth is that you, right now, need to be the center of attention for the first time in a long time.
I don't know how, but this movie puts you at the center of attention. When Elizabeth Holmes repeatedly tells Nathan Fielder about her honesty, she's telling you, the viewer, that she's giving you access to her raw, exposed soul and being. In her state of vulnerability, in the first act of the movie, she's counting the weeks she has left before she goes to prison and yet somehow, she's making time to talk to you. She's letting Fielder and his camera crew into her home, near her children and her devoted husband, so you can see everything.
If you take her at her word, she's just a good person with a good heart who didn't mean or try to deceive or hurt anybody. In fact, she hasn't told a single lie since high school. But she's Elizabeth Holmes - why would you believe her? She could just be playing a character designed to garner sympathy for her, and maybe it'll help her get out of 11-year prison sentence just a bit sooner. So as far as you're concerned, Elizabeth Holmes' portrayal of Elizabeth Holmes is a charade, a facade, a fiction with no truth behind it. Why should you believe her Holmes and not Amanda Seyfried's Holmes?
Almost as if Fielder is reading your mind, he finds a gentle, subtle way to ask her on your behalf: by playing The Dropout for Holmes to watch. It's uh, it's awkward. Elizabeth Holmes (the real one) breaks down and cries at the idea of being seen as a pathetic, lying, money-driven succubus who deludes herself and the people around her into making terrible decisions. This sucks - not just because you're capable of feeling empathy even for the bottom rungs of society, but because this doesn't really tell you much of anything, really. She's either sad about being misunderstood, or she's sad about being properly understood as a jerk.
Honestly, I think that's why my best friend wasn't interested in watching the film. On the bright side, that meant that she was okay with me spoiling it for her.
Telegram Chat - FRIDAY AFTERNOON
Me
Are you gonna watch the movie?
Otherwise, I'm just gonna spoil it for you. If you're okay with that?
Kindly White Woman
Go for it
Me
do you know who amanda seyfried is
Kindly White Woman
Idts
Me
okay so nathan fielder and liz holmes are watching the Hulu miniseries about her, with amanda seyfried of Les Misérables fame playing Liz Holmes
the problem that Fielder runs into is that Holmes goes to prison about halfway through filming, leaving the central character of the story missing. he's lost and has no idea how to keep the story going
on top of that, her husband Billy is acting more and more erratic
KINDLY WHITE WOMAN reacts with a 👀 emoji.
Me (cont'd)
so the next scene cuts to a close-up shot of Amanda Seyfried, without makeup, staring off-screen in the same way that Liz Holmes has done throughout the film
it slowly pans out to reveal that she's staring at Nathan Fielder, who is sitting on the same couch
she presses play on the laptop, and what starts playing?
THE VERY SAME DOCUMENTARY THAT WE'RE WATCHING
FAKE HOLMES IS ON A MACBOOK, WATCHING REAL HOLMES, WHO IS WATCHING FAKE HOLMES
KINDLY WHITE WOMAN reacts with a 😂 emoji.
Me (cont'd)
and seyfried is amused but her face quickly turns to horror and discomfort as she realizes that Real Holmes is crying, hurt and offended by the portrayal
Kindly White Woman
You're workshopping this for your review for your blog, aren't you
Me
yes
Kindly White Woman
(I don't mind)
Me
Why did Seyfried agree to appear in this? She's never asked, and she never offers any explanation.
It just immediately jumps to Nathan Fielder confiding in Seyfried about his concerns that Billy is taking advantage of her.
Billy is actively making AI videos of her. He's running her Twitter account, which is saying shit that Holmes would never say, like "Fuck off" to someone asking about a Holmes cryptocurrency.
He's doing things on her behalf, while freely admitting that she doesn't know the finer details.
His justification? They simply trust each other so well that they know what is and isn't okay.
Kindly White Woman
Ngl I kinda think that's fine
Well
For a normal, healthy couple it would be
Maybe less so when you're a high-profile fraudster
But like
Ariel could probably run my Twitter account mostly responsibly
Me
Right, the broader aspects make sense. The finer details don't.
Like, it's very clear that Billy is somehow involved in the billboards being placed around Los Angeles, the ones showing Liz Holmes with that famous Steve Jobs pose
[ Photo ]
Me (cont'd)
but the thing is, earlier in the film Liz is on camera saying that she hates that photo.
Fielder asks Billy if Liz knows about the billboards, and Billy is like "Not really..."
and when Fielder comes to Billy about his concerns, Billy just kind of blows him off by saying some borderline possibly abusive boyfriend stuff like "hey, I'm in charge here"
KINDLY WHITE WOMAN reacts with a 🚩 emoji.
Me (cont'd)
So we cut back to Seyfried being like "We need to break them up"
"Lmao what if I met up with Billy and got him to spill the beans"
apparently people just like telling her things
So naturally, it cuts to Seyfried, Billy, Fielder, and Holmes' two kids in a Texas living room, shooting the shit before dinner, Seyfried playing with the kids in a motherly way
A nice stasis that is interrupted by a phone call from the Texas federal prison. It's Liz Holmes. Billy puts her on speakerphone, and we end up with the first documented interaction between Holmes and the woman who plays Holmes.
KINDLY WHITE WOMAN reacts with a 😬 emoji.
Me (cont'd)
Holmes is polite and cordial, even though we all know that she didn't like this character assassination. To Seyfried's credit, she's apologetic about having possibly intruded on an intimate family moment. But she's reassured that it's okay.
It cuts to dinner and shit immediately runs off the rails. Billy's bragging about having irrevocable power of attorney.
Seyfried is gently questioning their relationship with each other and with social media. Billy immediately knows what she's getting at, firing back by criticizing Seyfried for not being good at social media either.
Fielder is confused, and Billy elaborates: Seyfried got a lot of blowback for criticizing Charlie Kirk after the Kirkentine's Day Massacre.
At this point, everyone is aware that Billy did his background research on Seyfried.
Seyfried defends her criticism, maintaining everything she said about Kirk was true: that he was a bigot, that he was cruel, that he was a monster.
Fielder presses Billy for a soundbite, and Billy freely admits that he liked Charlie Kirk.
On the drive back, Fielder reveals another bombshell to Seyfried: Billy negotiated a deal with A24, the company behind this exact movie, so that he would get a cut of the profits.
KINDLY WHITE WOMAN reacts with a 💸 emoji.
Me (cont'd)
This goes against the story that Real Holmes has been trying to sell us for the entire first act: that Theranos was never about the money. But now we have hard proof, on camera, from Billy's own mouth, that money is involved.
Of course, Billy insists that Holmes has no awareness of this deal.
So now me, you, Fielder, Fake Holmes, and the rest of the movie theater last night are wondering: What the fuck?
Either Liz Holmes doesn't know about any of this, or she does know and she's simply keeping her hands clean by having other people take care of the dirty work for her.
KINDLY WHITE WOMAN reacts with a 🤷 emoji.
Me (cont'd)
Fielder doesn't know how the movie ends, exactly. Thematically, aesthetically, cinematically? Yes.
The movie should end where it all began: the beachside condo where Holmes, Fielder, and Billy stayed before prison. It ends with Fielder and Seyfried sitting in big chairs in front of a grand, old-money fireplace, calling back to an earlier part of the film where the real Holmes sat.
The auteurs of the film know the audience should come away with a sense of whiplash, having jumped back-and-forth between fiction and reality, truth and lies. They already have the reality part down: it's the fireplace, it's the real condo that you can probably still rent on Airbnb.
The fiction is Fielder visiting Holmes in prison. No cameras, no audio equipment, no electronics allowed. Only a credit card to buy snacks from the vending machine.
Vertigo sets in as we keep switching back and forth between the fireplace and the prison, which has been re-created in a warehouse to look as close to the real thing as possible, down to the dirty, scuffed linoleum floors and the gaudy vending machines that quietly hum against the wall.
KINDLY WHITE WOMAN reacts with a 😵💫 emoji.
Me (cont'd)
Maybe we'd notice tiny little flaws in the reenactment, but they're blurred by the fact that we keep jumping back to the fireplace, where Seyfried is reading the final script that Fielder has prepared for them: The Prison Visit Scene.
Fielder never directly looks into the camera and asks us, "I couldn't record any of this. I tried my best to write down and represent this conversation as faithfully and accurately as possible. Please trust that I'm telling the truth."
He doesn't need to, because he said it to Seyfried, and Seyfried sits in for us, the bewildered audience. Who, at this point, is watching Seyfried portray Holmes one final time: as a prisoner greeting Fielder as an old friend, trembling with excitement and desire for human connection.
Holmes asks Fielder about Seyfried. Fielder corrects Seyfried during the rehearsal: Holmes didn't pronounce it properly in real life. She said "Say-freed", not "SIGH-freed". So the scene replays itself, with Holmes correctly mispronouncing Seyfried's name.
Holmes is still devastated, hurt, and offended by That Hulu Series. How could someone do something so hurtful to another human being?
Seyfried jumps out of character, rhetorically dizzy with psychological vertigo, but catches herself and falls back into the role.
After all, she's a professional. And after all, she wants to know what happens next.
KINDLY WHITE WOMAN reacts with a 🫡 emoji.
Me (cont'd)
Did Holmes know about the money? No, she didn't. She knew that there was a deal being made, but she didn't know the details.
Is Holmes okay with the deal? Yes, she trusts Billy.
But what about all that stuff about not caring about the money? Well, she can't afford to not care about the money. She owes millions in restitution, and whatever money she makes ends up going to the victims anyways.
What about the whole point of this movie, to show the world that she was an honest person with nothing to hide? That... that catches Holmes off-guard. She's clearly affected by Fielder's concern for her image and well-being. So she'll talk to Billy about it.
What about the infamous photo she hates, plastered on hundreds of billboards? The weird tweets? The AI videos of her saying anything and everything? Surely, she didn't know about that, and now that she knows, she feels a sense of betrayal?
No, actually. Holmes knows about all of it.
KINDLY WHITE WOMAN reacts with a 🤯 emoji.
Me (cont'd)
Billy told her, because they have a really good relationship and they don't keep anything from each other. He did weird, crazy things on her behalf, because he knows her well enough to know where the line was.
They love each other. He loves her, cares for her, and cares for her dreams. She loves him, has given her all to him, and wants to be with him through thick and thin.
All that b-roll of Holmes and Billy happily playing in the shallow ocean waves, cuddling each other for comfort, looking into each other's eyes with trust and warmth. At this point, do we have any reason to think that either of them was faking it?
After the screen goes black, a message plays for the audience: Billy agreed to give up any profits from the movie. Billy listened to his soulmate and respected her wishes.
As I left the theater, one of my fellow moviegoers told me that it gave him a sense of sobriety, of sanity. I thought about what that odd couple shared with each other.
I wanted that for myself.
Kindly White Woman
Wait, did you really see it in theaters?
Me
yeah
i got home at 2am last night
movie came out like yesterday
Kindly White Woman
No but I just expected you to pirate it
Me
it's a nathan fielder film. i wanted to experience it as the lord intended
Kindly White Woman
(Nodding)
by giving money to Elizabeth Holmes
Me
without any spoilers
Kindly White Woman
Yeah but
You didn't know that ex ante
Me
i didn't know about any deal, ex ante
a priori
B.C.
(before cinema)
anyway that's why i decided to shoot my shot with that half-indian hottie
(they said no ofc)
Kindly White Woman
Yea
I'm sorry bestie
Me
It's okay
It's still going to make a great ending to my essay
Kindly White Woman
(Horrified)
jesus fucking christ
Fade out.
In Conclusion
Five stars. Wonderful. Marvelous. Two thumbs up. If you give money to Liz Holmes or Billy, you're a damned fool but at least you're a romantic at heart.
If you liked this essay, please consider donating to my Palestine fundraiser at krishanaseetpatel.com
Post-Conclusion Scene
