What Critics Think About Nathan Fielder’s ‘Bonkers’ Elizabeth Holmes Movie
I keep thinking about how Fielder's whole career has been about exposing the performance underneath everyday life, and Theranos may be the purest performance we've seen in business since, well, ever. Holmes lied about blood testing and built an entire persona, from the deep voice to the black turtlenecks. Watching Fielder systematically deconstruct that persona feels like it could be either brilliant or monstrously uncomfortable.
What makes this project so fascinating to me is the collision of two different kinds of truth-telling. Holmes sold a fantasy that was technically false but emotionally compelling. Fielder's work usually starts with reality and then bends it until it becomes surreal. When those two approaches meet, the result might be the most honest thing either of them has ever made, or the most dishonest thing disguised as honesty.
I'd want to know whether Fielder genuinely solved anything about Holmes or just made her, and us, feel dizzier about the gap between image and truth. That gap keeps widening the more technology works its way into our lives, and maybe that's what makes this story so compelling. The deeper subject is how we all perform versions of ourselves, even when nobody is watching.
I hope it's deeply weird and doesn't explain anything at all.