Consider this a dare for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Settle in with your significant other and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like typical physical horror, but inside Together resides a profound meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for a decade. Married in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a unique chemistry to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The story starts when Tim and Millie relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical story element, sure, but that’s primarily where the cliches conclude. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and the protagonists fall into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence takes hold of the couple. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The whole movie is a methodically building of scares, blending bits of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and distant from his network of friends. He fears the notion of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he can’t drive and relies on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together avoids making Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
The couple confront the type of challenges that come with long-term unions over a long period. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of codependency and fully committing to another person, the allegory never feels clumsy or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. It has been said that single viewers have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, some couples having disagreements found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could function as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the ending sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your other half and say, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can undertake today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform now.
