'You Can See Everything' Review: Nathan Fielder's Doc About Elizabeth Holmes

cianmm 305 points 266 comments September 07, 2026
variety.com · View on Hacker News

Discussion Highlights (20 comments)

seabombs

Love everything Nathan Fielder does. The trailer is awesome. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GGJSRFWALTI

saimiam

Who’s “Bobby” mentioned in the article? Did the writer just mix up Billy Evans with Bobby?

nl

> But the more Holmes talks to Fielder, the more he teases out her unhinged rationale, which is: The device works fine! We just had to figure out that pesky chemistry stuff! The strange thing is that Holmes has such a corporate mindset that she treats the chemistry stuff…that hadn’t been invented yet…as just another glitchy small problem that could easily be solved The difference between science and engineering right there...

jiaosdjf

I watched the entire trailer fully believing that Nathan Fielder had managed to find the most unhinged uncanny look-alike actress to play Elizabeth Holmes. This trailer was so good that I would have been fully prepared to watch a 2 hour dramatised mockumentary about Theranos. Finding out that this was really Elizabeth Holmes was a huge shock

xyzelement

I have a distinctive memory about Theranos from business school - so circa 2013 a few years before it blew up. Some professor was going on and on about Holmes for being a young, female, founder. It stood out at the moment as weird because the praise was separate from success or outcomes or like brilliant science. It was all about the identity: gender and age. I wonder if the reason the scam went so far as it did because it was "shaped" exactly like what people were looking for, like what they were told the future of STEM was supposed to look like.

ddmf

There was some major tension in the trailer - I can't believe that's actually Elizabeth Holmes, but seeing her I can see how she managed to win over so many - she is very intense.

qoez

"That’s part of its appeal — it’s a one-of-a-kind reality-TV-as-hangout-movie psychodrama circus" This is fable level unreadable to me

iammjm

Wow that is a one scary intense trailer. Hard to believe we are not witnessing some kind of serious psychopathology right there

DarmokTanagra

Imagine a world where we held Musk to the same standard as Holmes.

elgertam

Holmes seems to have the Harvard Business (MBA) mindset: science, R&D, engineering are just results to squeeze out of recalcitrant practitioners. Any failure in those domains is evidence only of the scientists' or engineers' refusal to align themselves with the Vision. Despite not even finishing undergrad, she adopted this persona so naturally, including the black turtleneck and a Zuck-esque vocal inflection, that due diligence apparently defenestrated itself. Phyllis Gardner is the unsung hero who tried to warn the world, but the MBA mass-delusion was too strong.

qsera

After this, there was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meredith_Perry of UBeam

mark_l_watson

I watched a 90 second clip from this film earlier today: Holmes unblinking asking ‘Why would I deceive you…’ Really strange stuff. I have to admit that I watched the clip a second time.

sim04ful

This looks like another homerun for a24

lapcat

Fielder's "The Rehearsal" on HBO was madly brilliant.

joebig

Elizabeth Holmes Thanksgiving Visit: Family Time in Prison https://www.memesita.com/elizabeth-holmes-thanksgiving-visit... And wtf is even a "prison camp?"

goodJobWalrus

Who is Bobby the article keeps talking about? Her business partner's name was Sunny, and her husband is Billy.

vintagedave

For those who are experts on body language, non-verbal communication, psychological communication tricks, etc -- what on earth are we seeing in that trailer?

postscapes1

Is she not in jail right now? Also why in her right mind would she sign up to do this with Fielder? My brain hurts from this project.

SOLAR_FIELDS

My favorite quote from the article: > So he calls Amanda Seyfried, who sits and watches the scene we’ve just seen of Holmes sitting and watching Seyfried portray her. This is so very Nathan Fielder. Perfect encapsulation of his unique brand of humor. Seyfried portrays Holmes, giving her interpretation of Holmes. Holmes watches the portrayal, giving her interpretation of Seyfried's interpretation. Seyfried watches Holmes' interpretation of Seyfried's interpretation of Holmes. This vibe is basically the entire theme of The Rehearsal. It's an exercise in how many Matryoshka dolls we can un-nest in our meta exploration of the topic. Keep zooming out and re-view yourself in the scene you just played which is a super interesting way to discover things about yourself and others

fatbird

One thing that the earlier documentary on Theranos, The Inventor, made obvious is that Holmes is pretty charismatic at a personal level. At one point, Gibney is trying to interview her, but the camera he’s setting up isn’t working for some reason, and he’s apologizing. She says “it’s alright” and then leans in and says “we’re going to get through this” and smiles. It’s very warm. It was easier to see how people bought into her and her vision after that.

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