Home · Entertainment · Oct 19 archive
Amanda Seyfried faces harsh criticism as viewers rip her behavior in Elizabeth Holmes documentary
· Confirmed
In Short: Fielder and Oppenheim's documentary has been praised for its unique perspective and the raw insight it provides into Holmes' psyche, despite the criticism of Seyfried's portrayal.
Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's documentary, 'You Can See Everything,' explores the final 34 days of Elizabeth Holmes before she began serving her 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors.
The film, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, has broken box office records with a $15 million debut from around 850 screens across the U.S., according to the Independent (United Kingdom).
According to A24, roughly 70% of viewers were younger than 35 and turnout was almost evenly split by gender; reviewers have embraced it as well, reflected in a near-perfect 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, Briefs (Colombia) reported.
The documentary, which had been projected to earn $7 million to $8 million heading into the weekend, Variety reported, follows Holmes and her partner Billy Evans in the weeks leading up to her incarceration.
In the film, Seyfried appears alongside Fielder, who explores Holmes' perspective on her personal life and relationship with Evans. Seyfried's evolving stance on Holmes, including her reactions to Holmes' personal life, has been a focal point of the documentary.
Holmes reported to Federal Prison Camp Bryan on May 30, 2023, Fox News reported. During her trial, before the cameras arrived, Holmes was living in an estate listed at $125 million, STAT noted.
The documentary's narrative takes a turn when Holmes tells Fielder she has never watched the series 'The Dropout,' in which Seyfried portrayed Holmes, Los Angeles Times reported.
Fielder's approach in the documentary is experimental, with the latter 90 minutes focusing on Holmes' interactions with Fielder and her family, NPR noted.
Fielder's interactions with Holmes include showing her a clip of 'Who's on First,' a classic bit, STAT reported. Holmes pretends not to understand the joke.
The film's success has also made Fielder an unlikely source of affordable Halloween costume inspiration, with his $8 headphones from the documentary becoming a hit, Variety, BBC (United Kingdom), Independent (United Kingdom), and Los Angeles Times reported.
The documentary's success and critical acclaim have solidified its place in the ongoing narrative about Holmes and her impact on Silicon Valley.
The film's box office success and critical reception highlight the public's enduring fascination with Holmes' story, despite the controversy surrounding Seyfried's portrayal.
Background
Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's documentary, "You Can See Everything," explores the mind of Elizabeth Holmes, the convicted fraudster and former Theranos CEO.
What's confirmed
- First came the laptop harness from “The Rehearsal.” Now it’s a pair of $8 headphones from “ You Can See Everything.” Once again, Nathan Fielder has become an unlikely source of affordable Halloween costume inspiration, this time courtesy of his buzzy Elizabeth Holmes documentary.
What's still developing
- "Lots of 'women protecting women' posturing from her until she gets accused of perhaps also causing Elizabeth some degree of pain, after which she immediately deflects and starts engaging in female emotional manipulation by accusing Nathan of covering up for Elizabeth based on her 'intuition,'" another user said.
- For instance, when Holmes tells Fielder she never lies — never has lied in her life — he is skeptical, but he responds by asking her about things like white lies.
- The other 90 minutes are far more experimental, as the story picks up two years later without Holmes available to film.
- The new documentary about Elizabeth Holmes and her partner Billy Evans takes a series of twists that have to be seen to be believed Elizabeth Holmes is offering a rare look inside her private life in a new documentary that takes a series of increasingly bizarre and unexpected turns.
- In 2019 a Guardian article succinctly captured a few other reasons behind the public's apparently endless interest in her, calling Holmes's story "a true crime saga with a dash of Fyre Fest-schadenfreude and the added bonus of an icy blonde with a mysteriously deep voice".
- Warning: This article contains mild spoilers for You Can See Everything In 2014 Holmes was heralded as a self-made billionaire and founder of Theranos, a health technology company that claimed to have an invented a device that could diagnose illnesses with a single pinprick of blood.
- The documentary begins shortly before Holmes was due to report to federal prison following her conviction for fraud-related charges connected to Theranos.
- However, the lack of information surrounding this project meant that even many festival attendees had no idea they were about to watch a documentary centered on one of the most controversial figures in modern Silicon Valley history.
- First up is the breakout hit of Telluride, the audacious Elizabeth Holmes doc “You Can See Everything.” The film from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim premiered as a “secret screening” at the Colorado festival and earned rave reviews and swift proclamations that it could contend in both best documentary and best picture races.
- Set us as preferred Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Reckoning,” a sequel to 2010’s David Fincher-directed “The Social Network,” is hitting theaters as part of a surge of tech geek takedowns that includes documentaries on Elon Musk and Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes, as well as Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming comedy “Artificial” about OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
- "At no point in the movie does Elizabeth Holmes reckon with how anyone other than her was harmed by the downfall of Theranos. Amanda Seyfried earnestly reckons with the consequences of her actions even when she is (correctly) pretty sure she didn't do anything wrong."
- "Amanda Seyfried defending Holmes as a victim of male manipulation until Holmes accused her of participating in a sensationalized version of the Theranos scandal and then flipping out about how it is just TV was a [sic] truly gross," one X user wrote.