There is a reason reviews of You Can See Everything have characterized it as “bonkers,” “mind-bending,” and “a journey into the nature of truth.” It is also “worth the hype.”
The film follows Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, in the days leading up to her incarceration for defrauding Theranos investors. Running almost three hours long, Co-Director Nathan Fielder (Nathan For You, The Rehearsal) is as much a character in the film as his subject — and he performs his role superlatively.
Throughout, Holmes and her fiancé, Billy Evans, maintain that she never lied to investors (or anyone else) and that she still doesn’t know where things went so wrong.
Despite its length and extraordinary access, the film clarifies absolutely nothing. Instead, the viewer walks away even more uncertain of everything they thought they knew about Holmes, Theranos, and the nature of truth. Here are a few questions I walked away with:
1. Is Billy Evans Controlling or Just Protective?
Evans, entrepreneur and hotel heir, is definitely an unexpected star of this movie. Depending on which act of the film you’re in and who you ask, he might be a hero or the controlling, unhinged villain.
From the outset, Evans often interrupts interactions between Fielder and Holmes, cutting in just before Fielder can ask Holmes the truly revealing questions. He even does it when Fielder is speaking to Holmes’ dad. We also learn that, while Holmes is in prison, he controls all of her social media accounts.
At one point, Evans tells Fielder that he’s afraid for the safety of himself and his kids, so he carries a firearm on him at all times. Fielder asks incredulously, “You have a gun on you right now?” This provoked a knowing guffaw from the blue-state audience in my theater, as though this is further evidence that Evans is paranoid and unstable.
Yet to different audiences, this exchange wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow. It would seem like the totally reasonable action of a man trying to protect his family. Are these the behaviors of a controlling, paranoid man who’s using Holmes for his own purposes? Or is it the protectiveness of a man who truly loves his family and is doing what he believes is best for all of them?
As with everything else in this film, it depends on the eye of the beholder.
2. What About Ian Gibbons?
Many people have downplayed the effects of the Theranos fraud given that the primary victims were uber-wealthy men who, despite their losses, remain wealthy. But it’s important to remember two other groups of victims: the numerous patients who had huge health scares and costly hospitalizations because of Theranos’ inaccurate testing, and Theranos’ own employees, especially biochemist Ian Gibbons.
In 2013, Gibbons was supposed to be deposed in a lawsuit over Theranos and its patents. As he saw it, he had two options: Either tell the truth that Holmes had nothing to do with developing Theranos’ patents and then be sued by the company for violating his nondisclosure agreement, or lie on Theranos’ behalf and perjure himself. The stress of this and his diminished role at Theranos drove him to drink heavily and, tragically, to take his own life.
No one has ever tried to hold Holmes legally liable for Gibbons’ death. But her behavior, litigiousness, and the cutthroat environment she fostered at her company helped create Gibbons’ catch-22.
Gibbons ultimately made his own decisions — but, as the seemingly empathetic woman we see in this film, does Holmes ever think about him? Does she wish things had gone differently? I wish Fielder had asked.
3. What’s with the Cross Necklace?
In several scenes, Holmes wears a small silver cross necklace. It’s never mentioned, but given the nature of the film, it’s hard not to wonder what, if anything, that necklace means to her.
Was it just a gift? Maybe a comforting totem with no real religious thought behind it? At one point in the film, Evans mentions his admiration for Charlie Kirk. Is it possible he or both of them have been influenced by Kirk’s Christianity? We simply don’t know.
We do know Holmes is adamant throughout the film that she’s done nothing wrong. So what does she make of a symbol that stands for both the weight of sin and its need to be repaid? It’s just one more fascinating question mark in a movie full of them.
4. What Happened to Her Dog?
Anyone who’s seen Hulu’s The Dropout will remember that, as Theranos collapsed in 2017, Holmes got a husky, presumably as a coping mechanism to distract from her grim new reality. She confirms in this film that she really did get a Siberian husky puppy around that time.
Yet that is not the dog we see in You Can See Everything, which began filming in 2023. That would have made the dog around 6 years old at the time of filming. Huskies have an average lifespan of 12 to 15 years. So what happened to it? Where is the dog now?
There may be some totally innocent explanation, but Holmes and Evans gave Fielder such unrestricted access to their lives because they thought people didn’t know “the real Liz.” They are asking us to see Holmes as a gentle, sympathetic character. So how did “the real Liz” treat this puppy she once loved? The animal-lover in me needs to know.
5. What’s the Meaning Behind Her Daughter’s Name?
In the movie, Holmes and Evans refer to their baby daughter as “Ivy.” Her full name is actually “Invicta,” which is Latin for “undefeated” or “unconquered.” Celebrities giving their kids odd names is nothing new, but one has to wonder what inspired such a unique name. Could it be a nod to the classic William Ernest Henley poem? Yet another declaration of Holmes’ innocence? We can only hazard a guess.
6. Did We Become Holmes’ Newest Victims?
Anyone who previously watched or read anything about Theranos or Holmes has certainly thought, “How did no one see through her?” The investors, the employees, and the media should have caught on to her lies. Surely we would have.
If there is one clear takeaway from this movie, it’s that we, also, would have failed the “we should have seen through her” test. She would have charmed us too.
I now understand what Theranos whistleblower Tyler Shultz said: “You want it to be true so badly. … When I think back on those conversations [with Holmes], I just think, ‘How did she do that?’”
Nathan Fielder said he’s looking forward to other people seeing the film so the audience “can help me understand what I went through a little bit.”
If only we knew.
Caroline D'Agati is a writer, former park ranger, and New Jersey expatriate living in DC. She studied English at Georgetown and media studies at The New School. You can follow her on Twitter at @carodagati.