Here's a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate the horror genre: Sit down with your partner and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it may seem like standard biological terror, but beneath Together exists a profound meditation about our choices in loving our partners.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have been together for ten years. Married in reality in 2017, the actors contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The story begins when Millie and Tim move from the metropolis to the countryside for her career. A commonly used plot device, of course, but that’s primarily where the cliches cease. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their country house, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim discover an underground cave. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity begins influencing the pair. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying fright fest, interspersing moments of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and delivers them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is exclusively the two lead actors, and they masterfully render countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and removed from his network of friends. He fears the notion of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in another person. This fear is amplified by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in Together refrains from painting one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie grapple with the type of challenges that come with any relationship over a long period. At their core, they continue to care for one another. They share moments of joy, offer support, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these anxieties of codependency and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory avoids being clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other in harmony.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Conversely, some couples having disagreements found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could act as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your other half and state, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can undertake right now.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform at present.
