Consider this a dare for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your significant other and stream Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like conventional biological terror, but within Together lies a deep meditation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Directorial Debut Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the actors bring a particular energy to their characters, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The narrative begins when Tim and Millie transition from the metropolis to the rural area for professional reasons. A commonly used story element, of course, but that’s mostly where the cliches cease. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their country house, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim discover an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a strange force starts to affect the couple. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a slow burn horror experience, blending elements of dreamlike terrors, gross (but never too gross) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and delivers them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and removed from his network of friends. He fears the idea of completely losing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he refrains from painting one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
The couple grapple with the kind of problems that arise in any relationship a decade in. At their core, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and share intimately at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these concerns of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to a partner, the metaphor does not come across as clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Conversely, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own response could function as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply look at your other half and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can undertake right now.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform now.
