We present a test for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of scary movies: Sit down with your loved one and view Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its streaming debut via Hulu. Outwardly, it could look like typical physical horror, but inside Together lies a intense meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together represents the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for a decade. Married in actuality in 2017, the two stars infuse a unique chemistry to their roles, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The plot begins when Millie and Tim relocate from the urban environment to the rural area for her career. A familiar narrative setup, of course, but that’s primarily where the conventions conclude. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their country house, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim tumble into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a strange force starts to affect the couple. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The complete narrative is a methodically building horror experience, interspersing moments of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but never too gross) body horror, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and presents them in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his network of friends. He dreads the concept of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is intensified by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together never makes either of his characters the definite antagonist.
The couple grapple with the type of challenges that arise in most partnerships a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for one another. They still laugh together, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these anxieties of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory does not come across as hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a strong argument for staying single. On the other hand, some couples who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the ending sow a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply look at your other half and state, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can undertake today.
Together is streaming on Hulu as of this moment.
