A three-hour documentary about Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has become an unexpected cultural flashpoint in the United States, drawing large, vocal audiences and sparking fresh conversation about the boundaries between documentary filmmaking and performance.
You Can See Everything, co-directed by comedian and filmmaker Nathan Fielder and director Lance Oppenheim, has played to packed houses in New York, including a recent sold-out screening in Times Square. Reviewers and viewers have described the film as both a portrait of Holmes and a wider meditation on fame, deception and the media’s role in shaping public perception.
Audience reaction at screenings has been unusually animated. In a 300-seat auditorium in Manhattan, laughter, gasps and uneasy silence accompanied different parts of the film, prompting viewers to leave unsure whether they had watched an exposé, a character study or a piece of participatory performance. Critics have noted that the film appears to both document and participate in the construction of a narrative around Holmes, a device some call a "hall of mirrors."
Commentators have singled out Holmes’s former partner as a central figure in the film’s moral argument, with some calling that portrayal the most timely villainous element of 2026’s culture cycle. The documentary also features revelations, moments of apparent deception and what observers have termed a surprise A-list cameo, all factors that have amplified debate and helped turn the film into a pop-culture event.
While the film has been celebrated by many as a daring piece of cinematic journalism and storytelling, reactions have been mixed, with others questioning the ethics of the filmmakers’ methods and whether the documentary’s blend of staging and reportage blurs important lines. As screenings continue, the conversation around You Can See Everything shows no sign of abating, cementing the film’s place at the center of ongoing discussions about fraud, celebrity and the responsibilities of storytellers.