Consider this a challenge for long-term couples who enjoy scary movies: Settle in with your partner and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like standard body horror, but within Together resides a profound examination about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for over ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the actors infuse a particular energy to their roles, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The narrative starts when Tim and Millie transition from the urban environment to the rural area for her career. A familiar narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s largely where the conventions cease. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two tumble into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence starts to affect the pair. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying fright fest, interspersing moments of dreamlike terrors, gross (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes during something grotesque). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and presents them in a gradually swelling atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and far away from his network of friends. He dreads the concept of completely losing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is intensified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he avoids making one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Both characters grapple with the type of challenges that are inherent in long-term unions after ten years. Deep down, they still love each other. They share moments of joy, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these fears of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to another person, the allegory avoids being hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. It has been said that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could function as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply look at your significant other and state, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can embark on today.
Together is streaming on Hulu as of this moment.
