‘You Can See Everything’: 11 Revelations From the Elizabeth Holmes Doc

Describing You Can See Everything as an Elizabeth Holmes documentary is like describing a three-year fever dream as a nap. This wild, three-hour film, directed by Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder, does start out as a documentary about Holmes—following her in the weeks leading up to her prison stint. Then it transforms into something more.

Though Holmes’s journey from founder and CEO of blood-testing startup Theranos to convicted felon has been told several times, You Can See Everything takes viewers on a mind-bending, singular journey. Fielder uses his signature absurdist tactics, blurring fiction and reality as he creates fascinatingly uncomfortable situations, resulting in a layered story that reveals brand-new information about Holmes and her husband Billy Evans while exploring the nature of truth and storytelling.

Now that the A24 film is out in theaters, we’re going to break down the most shocking revelations from the film—from reveals about Holmes and the influence of her husband, to that surprise actor cameo that transforms the documentary halfway through.

[Editor’s Note: Many spoilers from You Can See Everything ahead.]

Elizabeth Holmes Was Writing a Memoir

Holmes has had her story told by many others: in John Carreyrou's 2018 hit book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup; on the ABC podcast The Dropout; on the Hulu limited series based on that podcast, starring Amanda Seyfried. But we learn in You Can See Everything that Holmes is also composing some sort of autobiography—or at least, that she was back in 2023. She’s seen on camera writing it on her laptop, and Fielder says that she read the first chapter to him, Oppenheim, and some A24 execs during their first meeting.

Coming Soon: Theranos 2.0

Holmes and Evans say in the film that they are hoping to relaunch Theranos, despite the company’s cataclysmic first go-around. They explain to Fielder that they want to focus on the same premise—testing a small amount of blood for medical diagnosis—but use different technology. Maybe it’s lasers, or maybe it’s AI; it’s hard to tell. They’re filmed making calls trying to raise money, and after Holmes goes to jail, Evans sets up some sort of medical testing company in Texas. It’s unclear from the film how far he’s gotten with its tech: He initially says he wants a working prototype in one year, but two years later, it hasn’t come to fruition.

Holmes versus The New York Times

Early in the film, Holmes and Evans are reading a profile of Holmes recently published in the New York Times. The story—“Liz Holmes Wants You to Forget About Elizabeth”—came out May 7, 2023. It’s a lengthy, in-depth article that reporter Amy Chozick wrote after spending a significant amount of time with Holmes in San Diego.

Though the story is relatively complimentary to Holmes, the couple express frustration with the piece—especially one quote that they allege is fabricated. The quote comes when Chozick asks Holmes how she feels about adaptations of her story, like Amanda Seyfried playing her in The Dropout. Chozick says that Holmes replied, “They’re not playing me. They’re playing a character I created.” But in You Can See Everything, Holmes insists she didn’t say this—that she would have never claimed she created a character in her Silicon Valley CEO days. “We don’t have any additional comment to offer, other than that we stand by the quote and the reporting,” a representative for The New York Times said when Vanity Fair reached out for comment.

Holmes and Evans then reveal that they have also recorded most of the interviews they’ve given, and have the evidence to prove Holmes never said the “character” quote. But when Fielder asks Holmes to show him the recording of Holmes’s conversation with Chozick, they claim they can’t find it or don’t have it. Later in the film, Fielder tries to go to The New York Times himself and verify the quote himself, but is unable to.

The article itself created quite a stir when it came out in 2023—but for the opposite reason. Chozick’s profile was viewed as overly kind to Holmes, with her describing Holmes as “an authentic and sympathetic person” and a “devoted mother.” As Vanity Fair reported at the time, the article led to an all-hands meeting at The Times where some staffers questioned the choice to run a soft profile on a woman who had been convicted of fraud and was about to head to prison.

Home Sweet Home

At a certain point, Fielder decides he wants to stay at Holmes’s home in San Diego, so that he can be with them 24/7. Holmes and Evans had previously offered this to Fielder, but he had at first declined. When he moves into the guest house, there’s only a box spring on the bed. When he asks them about it, they say the mattress is in storage, and they’ll get it out. He’s later seen sleeping on the bed with a mattress, but no sheets or blankets. Weird!

Holmes Insists She Has Never Lied. Ever!

In the film, Fielder asks Holmes if she’s ever told a lie about anything in her life. She says no. Naturally, this shocks Fielder, who exclaims “Liz, what!” He tries to get her to admit to telling at least little white lies—saying, for instance, that she was sick while bailing on a party she didn’t want to attend. Even then, Holmes can’t seem to pinpoint one time she remembers doing such a thing. “I’ve always tried to say what I believe,” she tells him. Evans confirms to Fielder that Holmes doesn’t lie: “She’s weird,” he says.

Later, Fielder tries to drill into a statement Holmes made about Theranos’s blood-testing technology: “The device can run any test.” This is a lie; the device could not run any test. After a long, convoluted conversation, Holmes explains that what she meant was that the device could potentially run any test—not that it had the ability to do so in its current form.

Fielder later shows Holmes a video of Abbott and Costello’s famous “Who’s on First?” routine. When he asks her about it afterwards, she seems not to understand the bit’s main joke: that the player’s name is “Who.” All this seems to imply that Holmes’s mind perhaps really doesn’t work the same as most people’s when it comes to understanding interpersonal communication.

The Surprise Costar

The most hyped-up surprise of the documentary is the participation of a celebrity: Amanda Seyfried. After Holmes goes to prison, Fielder meets up with the actress who won an Emmy for playing Holmes. He shows Seyfried the documentary so far—including scenes of Holmes watching The Dropout. It’s a wild meta-experience to watch Seyfried watching Holmes watch her show. But Seyfried’s participation goes much further than expected. Fielder then enlists her to reenact moments with Holmes that he wasn’t able to film, and Seyfried steps right back into the character.

The reenactments are wild—but they’re also not where Seyfried’s story ends. She then goes with Fielder to visit Evans and his kids while Holmes is in prison. Somehow, Holmes happens to call her family when Seyfried is at her house—so they get to briefly speak on the phone. Later, Seyfried and Evans get in a heated argument over social media, with Evans pointing out that Seyfried got a lot of heat for speaking out against Charlie Kirk after his death. Seyfried doesn’t back down, and Evans reveals that he’s a fan of Kirk.

The Dropout

The Hulu series looms large over the whole documentary, and not just because Seyfried reprises her role as Holmes in it. Holmes also claims that many people view the series as fact, or even a documentary, and that it has deeply hurt her reputation. Seyfried gets defensive about this, grappling with her own complicated feelings about playing a real person on film.

Billy’s Influence

What becomes clear as the documentary goes on is that Evans has a lot of influence over Holmes’s image after she goes to prison. He reveals that he has power of attorney, which allowed him to get access to her X account. He tells Fielder and Seyfried that he’s been posting on social media for Holmes, though he claims that “80 percent” of the posts he sends are really written by her. “I can literally do anything” as Holmes, he says.

We also learn that Holmes got a face and body scan before she went to prison, in theory so that her AI likeness could be used to make videos for her children. But it’s revealed that Evans has also been tinkering around with making her AI avatar available for the public. When Fielder asks how he feels about the idea that people might put the AI version of Holmes in pornographic or other disturbing positions, Evans is sanguine, claiming that’s inevitable.

Evans has also been in contact with Ryan “Egypt” El-Hosseiny, a Miami-based entrepreneur who put up billboards in Los Angeles and New York that featured Holmes’s image and the words “Elizabeth Holmes Innocent.” El-Hosseiny has claimed to be a filmmaker who is working to clear Holmes’s name, but Fielder seems surprised that Evans would be in cahoots with someone who doesn’t seem to have the best interest in protecting Holmes’s image.

The Money Play

Traditionally, subjects don’t earn money for their participation in a documentary because of ethical issues; being paid would create a conflict of interest for them. But Fielder and Oppenheim reveal that Evans asked to earn profits from You Can See Everything on the backend once the movie was released. This conversation happened before cameras were rolling—but Fielder enlists Seyfried and Christopher Abbott (who plays Evans in several reenactments) to recreate the moment.

According to Fielder, he, Oppenheim, and two A24 executives met with Holmes and Evans to discuss the film before they started shooting. After Holmes went upstairs to check on their children, Evans said they wanted to get paid for the film. Though Fielder pushed back, A24 eventually agreed to Evans’s demand. Throughout filming, Fielder tries to convince Evans to change his mind.

The last portion of the film revolves around whether Holmes even knows that Evans made the deal on her behalf. Fielder isn’t sure if Evans asked without her knowledge—or if her going upstairs was a choreographed move, and she was in on Evans’s scheme the whole time.

The Prison Visit

After Holmes goes to prison, Fielder struggles to talk to her directly. He finally arranges and makes a visit—but because cameras aren’t allowed in the prison, he can’t show it on screen unless he has Seyfried reenact it. The visit is when Fielder asks Holmes if she’s aware of the level of control Evans has over her social media and image. He also asks if she knew that Evans made a deal to make money off of the film.

According to Fielder’s reenactment, Holmes told him she wasn’t privy to all the details about the deal. She also told Fielder that if it was important for him that she and Evans not make money from You Can See Everything, she will talk to her partner. A post-script at the end of the movie reveals that Evans changed his mind about being paid in the end, and says that he will not receive payment on the backend.