Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your significant other and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it might appear like standard biological terror, but inside Together lies a profound contemplation about our choices in loving each other.
A Debut Feature Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for a decade. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the actors contribute a unique chemistry to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The story starts when the couple move from the big city to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar narrative setup, of course, but that’s mostly where the conventions end. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and the two discover an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence takes hold of the pair. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a methodically building fright fest, weaving in elements of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes during something grotesque). Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they deftly portray countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and distant from his support system. He fears the concept of totally forfeiting his sense of self in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he can’t drive and needs Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together avoids making one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
The couple grapple with the type of challenges that arise in most partnerships over a long period. At their core, they still love one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these anxieties of codependency and totally devoting oneself to another person, the metaphor does not come across as hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could act as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the ending sow anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply turn to your other half and state, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can experience today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu as of this moment.
