Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy horror films: Sit down with your partner and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. On the surface, it could look like typical physical horror, but beneath Together lies a deep meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together marks the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have stayed together for a decade. United in marriage in reality in 2017, the two stars bring a unique chemistry to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The story begins when Millie and Tim relocate from the big city to the country for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the tropes conclude. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their rural residence, a violent storm occurs, and the two tumble into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence begins influencing the duo. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying fright fest, weaving in moments of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes during something grotesque). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and delivers them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and far away from his social circle. He dreads the idea of totally forfeiting his individual identity in Millie. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he can’t drive and needs Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together never makes one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Both characters confront the sort of issues that come with long-term unions over a long period. At their core, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these concerns of codependency and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism does not come across as overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal work together symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could function as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the finale sow a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your partner and utter, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can undertake today.
Together is streaming on Hulu now.
