Here's a dare for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Settle in with your loved one and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. At first glance, it may seem like standard body horror, but inside Together resides a deep meditation about our choices in loving our partners.
An Introductory Film Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together is the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have stayed together for ten years. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, the actors infuse a unique chemistry to their characters, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The narrative commences when the couple transition from the big city to the rural area for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, admittedly, but that’s largely where the conventions cease. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their country house, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim fall into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence starts to affect the couple. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying fright fest, weaving in moments of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes during something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is deteriorating due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and distant from his support system. He fears the concept of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in Together refrains from painting either of his characters the clear bad guy.
The couple grapple with the sort of issues that arise in long-term unions over a long period. Deep down, they have affection for one another. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory never feels clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights work together in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could act as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion plant anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your significant other and state, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can undertake right now.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform at present.
