Consider this a test for long-term couples who enjoy scary movies: Settle in with your significant other and view Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like typical body horror, but beneath Together resides a profound examination about our choices in loving one another.
A Debut Feature Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for a decade. Married in reality in 2017, the two stars bring a unique chemistry to their roles, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The story commences when Tim and Millie move from the big city to the country for professional reasons. A familiar narrative setup, sure, but that’s largely where the tropes end. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the two tumble into an underground cave. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity starts to affect the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying fright fest, blending moments of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and presents 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 deftly portray countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and removed from his support system. He is terrified of the notion of totally forfeiting his individual identity in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together never makes Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie grapple with the kind of problems that arise in most partnerships a decade in. Fundamentally, they still love each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to another person, the symbolism does not come across as clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Conversely, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could act as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your partner and say, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can experience at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu as of this moment.
