Consider this a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate scary movies: Get comfortable with your partner and watch Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its streaming debut via Hulu. At first glance, it might appear like typical biological terror, but beneath Together resides a deep contemplation about how we choose to love one another.
A Debut Feature Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together is the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It stars Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for a decade. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the two stars infuse a unique chemistry to their roles, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The story starts when Millie and Tim move from the urban environment to the rural area for her career. A somewhat stereotypical story element, admittedly, but that’s largely where the cliches conclude. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their country house, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim tumble into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the duo. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The complete narrative is a methodically building horror experience, blending bits of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes during something horrific). Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and presents them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and removed from his network of friends. He fears the notion of totally forfeiting his individual identity in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he can’t drive and needs Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie refrains from painting Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie face the sort of issues that come with most partnerships over a long period. Deep down, they still love each other. They still laugh together, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their bond.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of codependency and giving oneself over to a partner, the metaphor does not come across as clumsy or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. Conversely, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own response could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the ending inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply look at your significant other and say, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can undertake today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu at present.
