Consider this a challenge for partners in committed relationships who are fans of scary movies: Sit down with your significant other and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like typical body horror, but beneath Together exists a deep examination about our choices in loving one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have been together for over ten years. Married in reality in 2017, the two stars contribute a special spark to their characters, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when Millie and Tim move from the metropolis to the country for Millie’s job. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the tropes conclude. Together becomes 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 storm hits, and the two fall into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a strange force takes hold of the duo. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past simple connection.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying horror experience, blending bits of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but never too gross) body horror, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and delivers them in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is suffering due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and removed from his support system. He dreads the idea of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he refrains from painting either of his characters the obvious villain.
The couple confront the type of challenges that arise in long-term unions after ten years. Fundamentally, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of codependency and totally devoting oneself to another person, the symbolism avoids being clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the horror and the drama work together symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a strong argument for staying single. Conversely, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could act as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply turn to your partner and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can undertake today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform at present.
