Here's a test for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate scary movies: Get comfortable with your loved one and view Together. This 2025 indie hit recently had its online premiere on the Hulu service. On the surface, it could look like typical biological terror, but inside Together lies a intense examination about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named 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 infuse a special spark to their characters, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The plot starts when Tim and Millie relocate from the urban environment to the country for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical story element, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the two discover an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity takes hold of the duo. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a methodically building fright fest, interspersing bits of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) body horror, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and presents them in a gradually swelling atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and far away from his support system. He is terrified of the notion of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in Together avoids making one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Both characters grapple with the type of challenges that are inherent in long-term unions a decade in. Fundamentally, they have affection for each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of codependency and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory does not come across as clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, some couples having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could act as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the ending sow a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your significant other and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can experience today.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform now.
