Consider this a dare for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate scary movies: Get comfortable with your loved one and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its online premiere on Hulu. On the surface, it could look like standard physical horror, but within Together exists a deep meditation about our choices in loving our partners.
A Directorial Debut Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together is the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for over ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the actors infuse a particular energy to their characters, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The plot starts when the couple move from the metropolis to the country for her career. A familiar story element, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their country house, a storm hits, and the protagonists discover an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force begins influencing the couple. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying of scares, interspersing moments of dreamlike terrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components expertly and presents them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and far away from his social circle. He is terrified of the notion of completely losing his sense of self in another person. This fear is intensified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he never makes Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie face the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships over a long period. Fundamentally, they still love each other. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of codependency and giving oneself over to another person, the allegory never feels hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a strong argument for staying single. On the other hand, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply look at your partner and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can embark on right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu at present.
