‘You Can See Everything’ - The Nathan Fielder Documentary that Tells All on Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes

Elizabeth Holmes at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco in 2014, who is the basis of Nathan Fielder’s three-hour documentary You Can See Everything. Photo: Max Morse / TechCrunch. CC BY 2.0.

It was a welcome surprise for the audience at the Colorado Telluride Film Festival’s anticipated screening on 6th September, who were immersed in a three hour documentary on Elizabeth Holmes’ last month at home before her reporting to prison back in 2023. Co-directed by comedian and actor Nathan Fielder, ‘You Can See Everything’ is a tell-all, open-book insight into Holmes’ life and frame of mind amidst the treachery and scandal of her defrauding investors. In an era where a deep sense of fascination and awe for trivialised moments ignites a media storm, Fielder invites the audience to invest their time into a peculiar and revealing autopsy of how and why Holmes deceived the world.

Theranos was Holmes’ entire life; she built the blood-testing medical entity to $9B, all the while making false claims about its efficacy despite being the face of an American pharmaceutical empire. Investors such as Larry Ellison and Rupert Murdoch were amongst others who gave millions to fund revolutionary technology that, after some time, became clear didn’t exist.

Viewers of the 2019 Hulu show “The Dropout” were given a detailed insight into Holmes’ (played by Amanda Seyfried) personal entanglements and trials within Theranos, including her history with being told by experts, including Stanford medical professor Phyllis Gardner, that her blood testing device wouldn’t work. Also ever-present in the show was Holmes’ romantic relationship with Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, which became a business relationship too, and they both, for a short while, were successful in their efforts to defraud investors. It is interesting to see whether Fielder’s will, in this newly-earthed A24 documentary, give viewers a personal insight into how Holmes and Bulwani’s relationship shifted from personal to professional over the course of a decade.

Early reviews of “You Can See Everything” praise Fielder’s ability to remain nuanced and unfazed, exhibiting a direct line of questioning throughout, even through a particular instance of Holmes’ insistence on “having never told a lie”. Holmes was America’s first female self-made billionaire, and had stayed quietly out of the public eye since her conviction, but as it seems, wanted to have her say just mere days before her reporting to prison.

Many reviews also mention the particularly shocking surprises and cameos that make this documentary worth watching.

Co-director Nathan Fielder may, for some, seem like an out-of-left-field choice, but his comedic cadence and ability to provide deadpan humour even in the most serious of moments within his previous projects might just make ‘You Can See Everything’ a worthwhile watch. In his docu-reality series ‘Nathan For You’ (available to watch on Amazon Prime), Fielder portrays a fictionalised and sensationalised version of himself providing business strategies in a humorous and oftentimes awkwardly-inducing way. The show’s second season received critical acclaim.

Fielder’s docu-comedy series ‘The Rehearsal’ was inspired by his work on ‘Nathan For You’ and critics lauded Fielder’s ability to blur the lines between fiction and reality, something that he has now further explored in the upcoming Holmes documentary.

This week, Fielder released the much-anticipated trailer for ‘You Can See Everything ’, and online commentary on Holmes’ aloof and peculiar behaviour (such as flirting with Fielder and putting on a deeper voice) suggests that this depiction of the former Theranos founder will be more personal and intimate than anticipated.

The trailer, which has amassed over a million views on X, takes viewers behind the scenes of: Fielder moving into Holmes’ house; Fielder pertinently questioning Holmes' new partner; Holmes trying with all her strength to cry on camera. It is a rather unsettling watch, and has been lauded on social media as “beyond terrifying”.

This is a documentary no one knew was an option, and there is no doubt this is a must-watch. From Fielder’s presence as an outsider given free rein, to Holmes’ unpredictable and unnerving behaviour, viewers can expect a high shock value in ‘You Can See Everything’.

‘You Can See Everything’ will be released on 16th October for U.S audiences.

Currently, there is no release date for UK audiences, although a January release date seems likely (as evidenced in previous A24 projects).