You Can See Everything’s Secret Star Offers a Fresh Perspective on the Story

Contains spoilers for “You Can See Everything”

Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, “You Can See Everything,” has a pivotal figure whose identity cannot be discussed in a spoiler-free review. Her appearance changes the film’s direction, tone and meaning: Amanda Seyfried, who portrayed Holmes in the Emmy-winning 2022 miniseries “The Dropout.”

After completing “The Dropout,” Seyfried believed she had moved on from playing Holmes. Instead, the documentary brings her back to the role, using reenactments to reconstruct events the filmmakers witnessed but were unable to record. One such scene depicts a business meeting that took place before production started and delivers a startling revelation: Holmes’ husband, Billy Evans—played in the reenactments by Seyfried’s “The Testament of Ann Lee” co-star Christopher Abbott—demands a share of the documentary’s profits. The unusual request raises ethical concerns and potentially draws the film’s audience into the same moral maze as its subjects.

A24 agrees to the arrangement in order to move the production forward, although closing title cards reveal that Evans abandoned the deal after filming wrapped. The disclosure appears to undermine Holmes’ claim that she would not profit from the documentary. Yet Holmes leaves the room just before Evans makes the demand, allowing her either to claim genuine ignorance or to maintain plausible deniability. Fielder later visits Holmes in prison to ask about the episode. Because cameras were not permitted inside the prison, Seyfried once again steps into the reenactment.

Seyfried’s contribution extends well beyond recreating past events. During the second half of the nearly three-hour documentary, she works alongside Fielder and occasionally pushes back against him. The film’s most audacious meta moment arrives when Seyfried watches archival footage of the real Holmes watching Seyfried portray a fictionalized version of her in “The Dropout.”

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That layered encounter exposes the peculiar tension at the heart of biographical drama: a real person is responding to a performance that may be compelling but is not entirely accurate. The question becomes even more complicated when the subject herself is accused of fabricating parts of her own story.

Seyfried eventually speaks with Holmes by phone and later confronts Evans in person. Of everyone in the documentary, Evans emerges as the most plainly unsympathetic. Arguments over whether documentaries and docudramas are inherently exploitative seem minor beside his attempts to monetize his wife’s public image, create an AI version of her and acknowledge that he posts on her X account without her consent. During one particularly revealing exchange, Evans criticizes Seyfried for her comments about Charlie Kirk.

While recreating Fielder’s prison conversation with Holmes, Seyfried also questions whether he has been manipulated by his subject. Viewers familiar with the extraordinary precision of Fielder’s work on “The Rehearsal” may instinctively trust his memory of the encounter. But when he changes Holmes’ reported wording from “I know he was talking to you about it” to “I know he was talking to you about something,” Seyfried detects a possible hesitation. Is Fielder simply correcting his recollection, or is he reluctant to say something that could further implicate Holmes?

Given the sweeping critical and audience response to “You Can See Everything,” awards speculation is already gathering. The documentary could become the first nonfiction film nominated for best picture—or the second, depending on whether one counts “Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness,” which received a nomination in the one-time-only “best picture, unique and artistic production” category at the first Oscars in 1929. Seyfried may also enter the conversation for best supporting actress.

The nearest comparison may be Maria Bakalova’s nomination for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.” While that film was not strictly a documentary, its cringe-comedy format placed actors in interactions with unsuspecting real people, most famously Rudy Giuliani. Bakalova, however, played a character throughout her appearances. Seyfried’s position is more unusual: she portrays Holmes in some scenes while appearing as herself in others. Her reenactments are strong enough to justify an awards campaign, but the film’s most compelling moments may come when she is not obviously acting at all.

That leads to the documentary’s most tantalizing uncertainty: is Seyfried truly being herself outside the reenactments, or is she performing in those scenes too? Fielder has spent years making audiences question how much of his awkward on-screen persona is authentic and how much is carefully constructed. Those doubts naturally extend to the professional actor sharing the frame with him. “You Can See Everything” may invite viewers to look closer than ever, but it also suggests that some truths will remain impossible to see completely.