Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who appreciate scary movies: Sit down with your loved one and stream Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere via Hulu. Outwardly, it could look like typical physical horror, but inside Together resides a deep contemplation about the ways we decide to love one another.
An Introductory Film Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a particular energy to their roles, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The story commences when Tim and Millie transition from the big city to the rural area for Millie’s job. A familiar narrative setup, sure, but that’s mostly where the tropes cease. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim tumble into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a strange force begins influencing the duo. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a methodically building fright fest, weaving in elements of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) body horror, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes during something disturbing). Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and delivers them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and distant from his network of friends. He dreads the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he never makes one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie confront the type of challenges that arise in any relationship over a long period. At their core, they continue to care for one another. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the metaphor avoids being 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 Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, some couples experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending sow anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your significant other and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can undertake right now.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu now.
