SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for “You Can See Everything,” in theaters now.
About halfway through Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary “You Can See Everything,” the film’s shock value increases once again. Even after a full-frontal scene of Holmes’ boyfriend Billy Evans and the convicted fraudster claiming she never lied, the film turns it up to 11 with a meta appearance from actress Amanda Seyfried.
Seyfried memorably played the founder of Theranos in Hulu’s 2022 series “The Dropout,” which Fielder shows Holmes and Evans for the first time — although it makes the actual subject cry. The documentary chronicles the 34 days leading up to Holmes’ 11-year prison sentence, then Fielder introduces Seyfried’s twist midway through the film after Holmes is incarcerated.
Fielder recruits Seyfried to talk him through some of her strange interactions with Holmes once she’s gone, given that the actress won an Emmy for her role in “The Dropout.” The meta-ness of Seyfried returning to play Holmes snowballs into his recreation of real-life moments that Fielder and Oppenheim were unable to capture on camera. Alongside him is “East of Eden” actor Christopher Abbott, who plays Evans, albeit with a smaller role than Seyfried (who goes on to become a main character in the latter half).
The two actors recreate a private negotiation between Fielder, Oppenheim and the A24 crew that took place before filming began on “You Can See Everything.” In it, Seyfried (as Holmes) leaves the conversation to care for his child, and Abbott (as Evans) demands that he be paid for his participation in the documentary. Fielder and Oppenheim (as themselves) resist, arguing that paying the couple would seriously discredit the film, but A24 relents and agrees to pay them.
The question then looms over the rest of the film: Did Holmes intentionally leave the room so he could deny the summary payment, or did Evans go rogue and demand the money on his own, leaving Holmes out? Fielder eventually visits Holmes in prison, where she says she didn’t know about the payment (which we later see recreated in a scene with Seyfried). At the end of the film, it is also revealed that Evans abandoned his financial request, without further explanation.
In what is perhaps the film’s most meta moment, Seyfried (as Holmes) tells Fielder during his off-camera prison visit, “I don’t want that to happen again,” referencing “The Dropout.” During the conversation, Holmes talks about how horrible it is that women “do this” to other women, pointing out that Seyfried and the entire “Dropout” crew are at fault. She adds that many women incarcerated with her believe “The Dropout” depicts entirely real events.
Interspersed with Seyfried playing Holmes during the prison visit, we see the actress (as herself) reading the script that Fielder prepared with her actual conversation with Holmes. Upon reading Holmes’ accusations, Seyfried’s guard immediately rises. The actress claims she “didn’t do this to (Holmes). She did this to herself,” later adding, “those aren’t lies. That’s f***ing TV.”
Fielder, ever the documentarian, cringes, wondering if Seyfried’s scenes in “The Dropout” were entirely accurate. Seyfried, still on the defensive, acknowledges that she doesn’t know exactly what happened in Holmes’ life, but that the Theranos founder’s behavior has led to assumptions about him, and that’s not Seyfried’s or the show’s fault. This lines up with what Seyfried said earlier in the film: “We work in a fictional land” but with “ridiculous amounts of research,” including 10 hours of deposition tapes that she referenced to prepare for her 2022 role.
Earlier in the document, Seyfried told Fielder that she would “put together anything you want me to piece together.” Fielder gently reminds her that she “isn’t (Holmes),” prompting the actress to ask, “Guess how many people thought I was her when I played her?” She responds with a smile: “A lot.”
Despite all this, Seyfried has difficulty deciphering Holmes. On the one hand, she shows empathy and points out that no woman would want to see another woman in a relationship with someone as manipulative as Evans. But on the other hand, she can’t really tell if Holmes is fooling everyone – again – by creating a back-and-forth between the actress and the imprisoned woman.
Viewers are also wondering how authentic the film is. Fielder claims that the scenes Seyfried recreates are done using Holmes’ real speech, but we see Fielder developing some warmth towards Holmes. Seyfried wonders if Fielder is protecting Holmes by showing a kinder depiction of her with their re-enacted scenes. Is Fielder’s kinship with Holmes real, or is he playing an enhanced version of himself in order to sow doubt about Holmes’ intentions?
The film ends with a quote from a New York Times interview with Holmes about “The Dropout”: “They’re not playing me. They play a character. I created. » This is a controversial quote from Holmes, who throughout the film claims that the New York Times misquoted him, saying she said “a character they created” rather than the attributed “I”. The Times reporter maintained that the quote was accurate. This single, highly controversial word makes all the difference, and leaves viewers wondering whether the filmed version of Holmes we see is the real deal or a fictionalized dramatization of the real woman.
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