How the shower scene came about
The shower sequence in You Can See Everything was not devised by the filmmakers, according to co-director Lance Oppenheim. Speaking with GQ, he recalled that the idea surfaced on the drive back from the gym, when he told Billy Evans the crew would give him time to wash up. Evans then asked whether they wanted to film him showering, Oppenheim said.[S1][S2][S3][S8]
Oppenheim said he proposed shooting in a way that would keep Evans's genitals out of frame, but Evans told him that being seen naked was not a concern. The director described the sequence as capturing a bathroom camera, a camera trained on Nathan Fielder, and a camera positioned outside the bathroom, followed by an exchange in which Evans glances toward the lens and smiles after leaving.[S1][S4][S8]
A director's uncertainty about motive
Asked why Evans would agree to appear fully nude on camera, Oppenheim said he did not know and that the decision was beyond his understanding. He acknowledged hearing various theories from viewers and said the material suggests to him that Evans may have been pleased that audiences could see everything and that the production had complete access, while stressing that he remains unsure.[S1][S4][S6]
The film's access and its documentary lineage
You Can See Everything was co-directed by Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder, who also appears in it. Principal photography unfolded over the 34 days before Elizabeth Holmes reported to federal prison for defrauding investors, a period during which Fielder stayed with Holmes and Evans at their rented house in Del Mar. The title comes from a message Holmes sent Fielder about how freely he could film.[S1]
Oppenheim placed the project in the tradition of observational documentary, citing Michael Moore and Ross McElwee as filmmakers who appear in their own work, and compared its second half, which uses reenactments, to Errol Morris's The Thin Blue Line. He described the result as assembled by reacting to what the crew encountered while applying documentary cinema's basic principles.[S1]
What audiences take away
The film probes truth, perception and distortion, and many viewers leave unsure what is genuine, including whether Fielder is performing a role. Oppenheim's own view is that the on-screen Fielder comes as near to the real person as possible. The shower scene has become one of the moments that left audiences and Fielder alike unsettled.[S1][S5][S7]
