Here's a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of scary movies: Settle in with your loved one and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. On the surface, it could look like conventional body horror, but beneath Together exists a deep contemplation about how we choose to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together represents the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for ten years. United in marriage in reality in 2017, the actors infuse a particular energy to their characters, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The story starts when Millie and Tim transition from the urban environment to the country for professional reasons. A familiar narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions end. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their country house, a storm hits, and the two tumble into an underground cave. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a strange force takes hold of the pair. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The whole movie is a slow burn of scares, blending elements of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but never too gross) body horror, and authentically humorous exchanges (sometimes during something disturbing). The director orchestrates these parts neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and distant from his social circle. He fears the idea of totally forfeiting his individual identity in another person. This fear is intensified by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he refrains from painting one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
The couple face the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships over a long period. At their core, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these fears of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to another person, the symbolism does not come across as overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that single viewers have interpreted the film as a strong argument for remaining unattached. Conversely, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could function as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the ending plant anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply turn to your significant other and say, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can experience right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu at present.
