You Can See Everything Movie Review

​“You Can See Everything” is deeply thought-provoking, highly emotional and unexpectedly engaging. I truly loved it, even given its long run time.

The movie is unconventional, but a fantastic depiction of Elizabeth Holmes, who she is, what she did and what she went through. At times, I thought I was watching a narrative film, it feels and sounds like it the entire time you’re watching. Sometimes, you have to remind yourself that this really happened, as shocking as that is. Nathan Fielder, known more for nonsensical humor, see “The Rehearsal,” has a winner here. There are comedic elements, but this gets dark and heavy quick.

Holmes does her best to make herself look good for Nathan, and ultimately, his audience, as often as she can. She speaks softly and practically bats her eyes at the man asking questions about her scamming institutions and wealthy individuals, a lot of them men, out of, some documents say, $945 million. Good at telling you what you want to hear, she sold them on the idea of Theranos, that word created from therapy and diagnosis, a blood test that could diagnose any issue with a little machine that would take a tiny bit of blood and send it to the cloud, use the information stored there and viola, give you your answer. This technology was supposed to be cheaper, quicker and more helpful than all other tests available, something she still wants to develop with her partner Billy Evans with the soon to be Theranos 2.0… believe it or not.

This documentary was made when, thirty-four days before Holmes was sent to prison, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, along with their film crew, were invited in her home to see who she was, allowing the world to see the truth. Filled with questions, not pulling punches as he asks them, Fielder is on screen throughout, allowing us access to her and explaining what she did to earn herself an 11-year sentence in federal prison. In 2018 she and her partner at the time, company president Sunny Balwani, were charged with fraud by the SEC. She’s now with Billy, has two children and, with empty eyes, smiles as she tells Fielder that she still believes in the project, telling Fielder that the world believes a reality about her that isn’t true. He tells her about her charges and she cries telling him that she knows her truth. He gives her a cold stare of doubt. He asks her if she has ever lied and she tells him no. “Liz. What?!” is his response to her. He asks not even a little white lie? Not little Liz… she’d never intentionally deceive.

Further into the film, you get to know Billy more, who seems like a master manipulator himself. She’s under scrutiny for being manipulative, but watching this story unfold, you see what a callous individual Billy is. Maybe he learned from her, regardless, he doesn’t come off well. I won’t get into all that he does and says to make the second half of this movie so fascinating because you’ll be upset you can’t let that unfold as you watch. Trust me, you won’t like him very much by the end.

Another person enters the picture who is truly on Holmes side. She seems terribly gullible, but very sweet. She hates Billy and believes he’s using her to make money. We learn that Holmes’ father worked for Enron. He tells us that she got involved with Sunny when she was 19 and he, 40. That’s when all her trouble started. He thinks she wasn’t smart to get into business she was romantically involved with.

Anyway, there’s so much more to this film, I don’t want to give too much away. Nathan is sincere in getting you to know her, the good and the bad. He achieves his goal there. But, after telling a person not to be taken in by her, he comes off looking as if he has swallowed her lines of bs himself. Did she end up where she did because of those around her and she trapped in something she couldn’t get out of because of them? That’s what she wants you to believe. Watch the film and see for yourself. This film is engrossing, engaging, emotional and thought-provoking. It’s out. You need to see it.