If there’s one thing to take away from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s new documentary “You Can See Everything,” it’s that Elizabeth Holmes is a difficult person to understand. By the end of the film, even Fielder wonders if she’s the biggest liar of a generation or if she’s truly delusional. As the film became a success, it garnered numerous testimonials from those who personally interacted with Holmes or had an insider’s perspective on his exploits.
Perhaps the person best informed about the Theranos scandal is the journalist who broke the story, John Carreyrou (whose other investigative work was notably described in “The Social Reckoning”). In a lengthy New York Times article, Carreyrou says he was not allowed to interview Holmes directly; however, given his extensive reporting and the subsequent book “Bad Blood”, he is probably the foremost Holmes expert.
He states that Holmes lies in some of the film’s most incredulous moments, including Holmes’ supposed lack of understanding about “Who’s on First?” by Abbott and Costello. routine. Carreyrou describes her reaction as an attempt to “present herself as a neurodivergent entrepreneur who operated on a different wavelength.” Another moment that seemed wrong for Carreyrou was when Holmes breaks down after a photo shoot, saying she doesn’t like the spotlight. Carreyrou notes his numerous public appearances, such as a TED talk in 2014, as evidence to the contrary. He also posted on X that he loved the film (#BestPicture).
Another New York Times response article responds to a quote in a Times article in 2023. According to journalist Amy Chozick, Holmes told her about the Hulu show “The Dropout”: “They’re not playing me. They play a character that I created. In the film, he is used as an example of Holmes’ inauthenticity.
Holmes disputed the quote at the time, stating that she did not create a character, but rather “they” created him. Her fiancé Billy Evans, a central figure in “You Can See Everything,” claims he recorded the exchange and that the quote was inaccurate. Chozick refutes this, saying Evans provided the Times with only an 80-second clip in an attempt to refute the quote. Chozick also claims the exchange took place when the recorders were turned off and she wrote it down in a notebook.
Theranos whistleblower Tyler Shultz offers another interesting perspective in an article in the medical journal Stat. When he worked at Theranos, his grandfather (former Secretary of State George Shultz) was a member of the company’s board of directors, and his relationship with Holmes was friendly enough that she came to his family’s birthday parties. He notes that the Theranos device shown in the film on Holmes’ kitchen table was not the same device used by the company but rather an unfinished prototype. He delves deeper into the distinctions between the two devices, saying the version shown is meant to be more impressive to audiences and create more ambiguity.
Shultz also points out that the somewhat modest-looking beach house was also a ruse and that before Fielder arrived, she lived on a much larger estate. This reflects a deception she did for a New York profile in 2014 in which she showed off an austere two-bedroom apartment, when she actually lived in a mansion in Atherton.
In another Stat article, Matthew Herper, a former health reporter at Forbes, recounts how he interviewed Holmes twice on stage. He listed a list of misleading claims Holmes made regarding the capabilities of her technology and said she made false statements during her interviews. Regarding the film, he called his ability to influence others – including himself – a “superpower.” He concluded the essay by saying that giving her his attention at this point feeds his manipulative behavior. “We see this strange look and we’re caught up – we even see it happening to Fielder. I wish we could all not stare,” he wrote.
Some of the film’s key moments revolve around the relaunch of Theranos, with Evans deeply involved in the project. NPR correspondent Bobby Allyn shared an article he wrote about the relaunch of Theranos, stating that Evans had pushed back on Holmes’ involvement in the company, even though in the film she is presented as a central figure.
And Armand Domalewski, a data scientist in San Francisco, weighed in on
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