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‘You Can See Everything’: A Film Without a Hero

‘You Can See Everything’: A Film Without a Hero

Last updated on: October 18, 2026 at 10:02 pm by Kate O'Hare

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‘You Can See Everything’: A Film Without a Hero 2026-10-18T22:02:17-08:00 Kate O'Hare

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If you’re looking for answers, insight or evidence in You Can See Everything, currently in theaters, good luck.

And, if you’re looking to find the hero of this film focusing on convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, good luck with that, too.

Is Elizabeth Holmes Becky or Amelia?

I’m currently listening to an audiobook of William Makepeace Thackeray’s wise and wicked Vanity Fair, subtitled A Novel Without a Hero.

It centers on two very different British women during the Napoleonic Wars — clever, ambitious, scheming orphan Becky, and sweet-natured, naive china doll Amelia.

Ironically, both are beloved of men — Becky draws them in with wit and charm, while Amelia inspires their protective instincts — but generally despised by other women.

And, both reminded me of Theranos founder and felon Elizabeth Holmes, subject of You Can See Everything, a supposed documentary tracking her life and that of her fiance and little children, in the month before she begins serving an 11-year sentence in federal prison.

The jury saw Holmes as Becky, a consummate con artist who convinced Walgreens, investors, journalists, and several powerful older men who became board members, that she had invented a small device that could do scores of medical tests from a single drop of blood.

In You Can See Everything, Holmes would like you to see her as Amelia, the hapless victim of her own neurodivergent brain, and a couple of manipulative men — which may also include her current romantic partner.

She even sports a little cross necklace at one point (but no other religious references or prayers are seen or heard).

There is no real hero in this sad tale (the most sympathetic folks are Holmes’ apparently bewildered parents), and more than one villain, including, at times, an actress … but that would be telling.

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The Theranos Story (Skip Ahead If You Already Know It)

Shown living in a beachside home near San Diego, California (valued at $8M, by the way), with her fiance Billy Evans (scion of a prominent San Diego family of hoteliers), and their two children (a toddler and an infant), Stanford dropout Holmes founded Theranos in 2003 at the age of 19.

By 2010, the company was valued at $1 billion; by 2015, $10 billion.

In 2014, at the age of 30, Holmes was named to Forbes’ billionaire list, with a net worth of $4.5B. She graced magazine covers, was sought after for interviews, TED Talks and conferences, and flitted all over the world selling the dream that was Theranos.

But as of Sept. 2018, the company was worth … nothing. Private investors lost $700M to $945M in real money, along with nearly $10 billion in potential value at the company’s peak.

In January 2022, Holmes was convicted of four federal counts of fraud and sentenced to 11 years and three months.

Her former boyfriend and business partner, Pakistani-born businessman Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, was also convicted and sentenced to 12 years, plus three years of probation.

He surrendered himself and went to prison in April 2023; Holmes began her prison term roughly a month later.

According to a new story in People,

Elizabeth Holmes is scheduled for release in February 2030 after her sentence was reduced for good behavior
She will move to a Texas halfway house in August 2027 while remaining in federal custody
Holmes has served at a minimum-security facility since May 2023 and works as a reentry clerk

I’m Not New to Holmes and Theranos, But as for Nathan Fielder …

In the interests of full disclosure, I’ve written about the 2019 HBO doc on the subject, called The Investor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley; and Yahoo Finance’s 2021 documentary Valley of Hype.

I’ve also read investigative reporter John Carreyrou’s authoritative book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup and listened to the follow-up podcast, Bad Blood: The Final Chapter.

Suffice to say, going into You Can See Everything, I knew quite a lot about Holmes and Theranos, but I knew nothing about the film’s co-director (with Lance Oppenheim), Canadian comedian, actor and filmmaker Nathan Fielder.

I can say now that, whatever Fielder is, he’s not a documentarian.

And You Can See Everything (based on a text Holmes sent Fielder) is not a traditional documentary. It’s more like those wildlife shows in which the host embeds himself or herself in the natural enviroment, and the viewer then watches everything through the lens of the host’s perspective.

It’s more Steve Irwin than Sir David Attenborough.

Getting (Very) Up Close and Personal

You Can See Everything is unexpected, strange, and riveting. I sat for three hours, downed an entire bottle of iced tea, and never needed a bathroom break.

Often in uncomfortably tight close-ups, the camera (presumably directed by Oppenheimer) watches Holmes and Evans, but it also watches Fielder watching them.

He’s an active participant in everything that goes on, with no real attempt at journalistic distance or analysis.

Like so many other men in Holmes’ orbit, Fielder’s ultimately mesmerized by her odd demeanor, touseled blond hair and unblinking blue eyes (something interviewers have remarked on for years).

He’s even called out on it by someone he brings in during the film’s second half (check out Hulu’s dramatic limited-series take on the Theranos story, called The Dropout, for background on that escapade).

Standing around corners or behind doors, or right in his subjects’ faces, Fielder spends the first half of the film as a surrogate for the audience, trying to make sense of this conventionally attractive but extremely peculiar couple.

He spends the second half trying to figure out what he experienced, and what the truth is about what Holmes knew about the massive Theranos fraud.

Fielder’s also investigating Evans, who’s got all kinds of ventures going with Elizabeth, including hustling to create a “Theranos 2.0” — and having her photographed, so that he can make virtual versions of her later (for the children, doncha know).

The whole thing, from Holmes to Evans to the actress, is just wrong on so many levels, but it makes for an absolutely irresistible film.

WARNING: There is a single, full-frontal nude shot of Evans. The film is rated R, for that and language.

Truth and Lies

Ultimately, You Can See Everything hinges on truth and lies, those we tell others, and those we tell ourselves. Holmes claims she never told a lie, which is … unlikely. She also claims to have (and I loathe this phrase) “my truth.”

There’s a dispute over what the word “can” means, and later on, a word gets changed that alters the entire complexion of a moment.

It’s a stark reminder that only God can look into someone’s heart and soul. We can only see what’s shown us, and hear what’s told to us, but it’s impossible to truly get into someone else’s mind.

The film is also about justice and mercy. Without mercy, justice is merely punishment. But without justice, mercy results in license.

Holmes Angles for Mercy, But Does She Deserve It?

So, is Holmes Becky or Amelia, the schemer or the victim?

She certainly works hard to give the impression that she’s just a simple, barefoot girl in a sweater and jeans, a loving mom caught up in a whirlwind not of her own making, being made to suffer for crimes she never committed.

Sitting with Fielder, staring into his eyes, her hair frizzy, with no makeup, rocking a baby bassinet with her foot, she’s Amelia-ing for all she’s worth.

But this same woman spent hundreds of days, over the course of years, talking in a preternaturally deep voice to investors and audiences, strolling through the halls of power, with glossy hair and Steve Jobs-esque black turtlenecks, finished off with a slash of red lipstick.

She was not accused of the crime of a moment, but of one that lasted 15 years and caused real pain and anguish — not least to the whistleblowers.

One of them, Tyler Schultz, grandson of former Secretary of State — and Theranos board member — George Schultz, fought battles both legal and familial.

And this was not about any social network. Theranos was playing with real patients, with real illnesses.

Ah, Becky, you don’t fool me.

The Woman Who Didn’t Buy It

Ironically, it was an older woman, Dr. Phyllis Gardner, M.D., professor of medicine at Stanford, that first called foul on the young Holmes’ ideas.

From Refinery29:

Gardner says she knew it all along; as a medical professional, she knew the technology behind Theranos did not — could not — work. So, when she was first contacted in 2015 by the Wall Street Journal’s John Carreyrou as he investigated the entrepreneur’s company, she wasn’t afraid to voice her opinion.

“The hubris of that just drove me insane,” she said. “Don’t call her ‘brilliant.’ She is just a whipper-snapper kid. It was very tough for me all those years, and part of it was that women were idolizing her. I didn’t like that they were idolizing a fraud.”

The voice didn’t fool her, either.

One Journalistic Note and One Filmmaking Note

There’s a controversy in the film about a direct quote that the New York Times attributed to Holmes, that Holmes and Evans (who claimed to have recordings of every interaction with the reporter) say Holmes never said.

You’ll see what happens with that in the film. But, as a journalist, let me say that, if you put something in quotes, especially concerning anyone the least bit controversial, you better be able to produce proof the person said exactly what you quoted.

Also, in terms of this not really being a documentary, there’s a scene in which production company A24 does not exactly cover itself in glory. Studio executives make a decision that calls into question the very ethical underpinning of the film itself, but apparently it was a step the company was willing to take.

One thing’s for sure, you may be able to see everything in this film, but that doesn’t mean you’ll understand anything.

Image: A24

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About Kate O'Hare

Journalism, screenwriting, Seahawks ... I prefer stories with soul. Covering the intersection of entertainment, faith and pop culture. Writing movies in my spare time -- when not watching Seahawks football, that is. From the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, left my heart in Saratoga Springs. Currently based in Los Angeles, where it's always another day in paradise. No, I don't pick my NFL team by geography. You can read more about the author here.

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