YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING
by Victoria Alexander
Elizabeth Holmes weeps whenever she is on camera, and Billy Evans strikes a fully nude gorilla pose. He made his dominant position clear, and the directors wisely kept it in.
This shower scene, which gave the documentary an R rating, is much talked about. Co-director Lance Oppenheim told People magazine, “It seems like he really had something he wanted to show to us and to the world.”
Elizabeth’s partner must have walked around naked enough times for the co-directors, Nathan Fielder and the aforementioned Oppenheim, to understand that Evans was displaying his not-so-subtle dominance over the filming. The scene was staged, as Evans allowed the crew to film him. He even turns to the camera.
Elizabeth cries, and Billy tells her over and over that he loves her. Instead of counting how many men John Wick killed in JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2, why not count how many times “I love you” is said in the documentary?
We all know the story of the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and her magical company, Theranos.
The pull quote for Theranos could have been: “One drop of blood is all that is needed to test for hundreds of diseases.”
I go to Quest Diagnostics often. I hold all my secret meetings there. I hate having my blood taken. I must scream while preparing myself. I am known for my diatribe to every phlebotomist about Quest’s near monopoly on blood extraction and testing. It goes something like this:
“What are they doing with all the blood? Blood was used historically in ritual sacrifices meant to please the gods and request favors, such as a good harvest. [Here I talk about the Aztecs, ancient Egypt, and the biblical Levant.] The best blood was from children. It was the most powerful blood for its purity. I need to go to Quest headquarters and find out what is really going on.”
When my husband volunteers to give blood, which he does as often as they allow, I ask him if I can have his “merit.” I want to go with John to the blood donation center and explain the Buddhist concept of “merit.” If they are not interested in collecting “merits,” I’ll ask if I can have theirs.
In Buddhism, merit is a wholesome, protective spiritual force generated through good intentions and virtuous actions. It purifies the mind, shapes a person’s current well-being, and forms the karmic foundation for a favorable future rebirth.
Back to the saga of Elizabeth Holmes: Theranos was valued at $9 billion before any device was ever made. Elizabeth was masterful in funding Theranos, bringing in high-profile investors such as the Walton family ($150 million), Walgreens ($140 million), Rupert Murdoch ($125 million), and Larry Ellison (amount undisclosed). What made Elizabeth’s pitch so seductive?
Henry Kissinger was on Theranos’s board of directors! Holmes defrauded the rich investors, and she made a fool of Kissinger.
Wealthy investors in Theranos could potentially claim tax write-offs for their losses, either as a standard capital loss or as a theft- or fraud-related loss, depending on how the investment became worthless and the applicable IRS rules. If the investment simply failed as a business venture and the stock became completely worthless, investors can write it off as a capital loss. These losses can offset capital gains from other investments.
Before Elizabeth was to begin her 11-year prison sentence, she and Evans thought it would be a good idea to make a documentary about the real Elizabeth, the mother of a toddler son and a breastfeeding infant daughter. The documentary was filmed over three years. For the last 34 days before Elizabeth’s prison sentence began, the film’s directors stayed in a guest cottage on the couple’s huge, rented ocean-view compound. This being a documentary, the filmmakers were supposed to be objective. As unease developed, Fielder and Oppenheim feared there were hidden cameras in their guest quarters. In spy lingo, they brought in a device to have their guest quarters “swept for bugs.”
Late in the filming, Evans called a meeting with A24 executives to demand “points,” a share of the back-end profits.* Evans held the producers hostage, and they had to agree. This demand caused severe tension, as Fielder feared the arrangement would completely compromise the film’s journalistic integrity. Communication between the filmmakers and Evans broke down.
It became evident that Evans tried to exert control over the project.
Elizabeth was too innocent to be part of this crass “demand for money” negotiation and later claimed she knew nothing about it.
Fielder becomes a co-star as he firmly questions Elizabeth. She weeps. Soon, Fielder agrees to live on the property. The camera often stays on extreme close-ups for seconds too long. Fielder knows he is being deceived, and he keeps on questioning Elizabeth as she refuses to acknowledge the facts stated in the trial documents.
Fielder allows Elizabeth to insist she did nothing wrong and never lied. He is brilliant at questioning Elizabeth’s insistence on her innocence and her plans to resurrect Theranos.
Fielder does not bother to ask Elizabeth about the hundreds of millions of dollars lost to obscenely wealthy investors.
Evans becomes the centerpiece of the documentary, revealing how much of “the Elizabeth Holmes phenomenon” he orchestrates.
With Elizabeth in prison, Fielder and Oppenheim bring in movie star Amanda Seyfried to join the documentary. Seyfried starred in THE DROPOUT, which was based on Holmes’s story. I watched the miniseries, and it was terrific.
Seyfried met with the directors to review some of the footage. Seyfried agreed to re-enact private conversations, business meetings, and encounters that the camera crew could not capture live. She also portrays Holmes in scripted recreations of phone calls and prison conversations.
Amanda gives a chilling assessment of Evans.
In the re-enactment of Fielder’s visit to Elizabeth in prison, Amanda gives a frightening portrayal of Elizabeth, with her glasses on, no makeup, and severely chapped lips. This Elizabeth looks like she is doing hard time, but she is serving her federal prison sentence alongside Ghislaine Maxwell at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, a minimum-security facility for women.
Amanda tells Fielder that he has developed sympathy for his subject, losing a documentarian’s objectivity. Amanda is right.
In YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING, the Elizabeth Holmes shown here is not the woman who captivated industry and was lauded as the heir to Steve Jobs. As the face of Theranos, she got big investors to give her hundreds of millions of dollars without any due diligence. She was a marketing genius! Theranos had 800 employees!
This Elizabeth Holmes is a passive, submissive woman who has given over her soul to Billy Evans. Her well-known deep, raspy voice is gone; in its place is a shallow, childlike cadence.
Evans sees Holmes as a brand. He takes on the role of Elizabeth Holmes on all social platforms.
What happened, Elizabeth?
Did we need another three hours to lay bare the truth?
POSTSCRIPT: Elizabeth Holmes is scheduled to move to a halfway house on August 23, 2027. The Federal Bureau of Prisons lists her projected release date as February 22, 2030.
*After filming was completed, Evans agreed not to demand a portion of the film’s profits. This forced agreement must have made the filming combative and unpleasant.
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