Here's a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate horror films: Sit down with your loved one and view Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. On the surface, it might appear like typical biological terror, but inside Together lies a profound examination about how we choose to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together represents the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for a decade. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The narrative starts when the couple transition from the urban environment to the countryside for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim discover an underground cave. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the duo. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying horror experience, interspersing moments of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes during something disturbing). Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and delivers them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is exclusively the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his support system. He dreads the idea of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is amplified by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie refrains from painting Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
The couple face the kind of problems that are inherent in long-term unions a decade in. Deep down, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to another person, the symbolism never feels clumsy or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that single viewers have understood the narrative as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could act as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply look at your significant other and say, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu now.
