Consider this a challenge for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your loved one and view Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its streaming debut via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like standard biological terror, but beneath Together lies a profound contemplation about the ways we decide to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together marks the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have been together for a decade. Married in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a special spark to their characters, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The narrative commences when the couple move from the urban environment to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar story element, of course, but that’s largely where the cliches end. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their country house, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim discover an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence takes hold of the pair. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a methodically building fright fest, interspersing bits of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and delivers them in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is suffering due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and removed from his support system. He dreads the notion of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision is that he avoids making one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Both characters confront the type of challenges that come with most partnerships over a long period. Deep down, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the metaphor avoids being clumsy or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. It has been said that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a strong argument for staying single. On the other hand, some couples who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could act as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply look at your partner and state, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can experience at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
