We present a challenge for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your loved one and view Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it could look like typical biological terror, but beneath Together lies a deep contemplation about how we choose to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for a decade. United in marriage in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a unique chemistry to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The story starts when the couple move from the metropolis to the country for professional reasons. A commonly used story element, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions conclude. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists fall into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence begins influencing the duo. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a methodically building of scares, blending moments of dreamlike terrors, gross (but tastefully done) body horror, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes amidst something horrific). Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and wraps them up in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is exclusively the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and removed from his support system. He fears the idea of totally forfeiting his sense of self in his partner. This fear is intensified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together never makes one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Both characters face the type of challenges that arise in any relationship a decade in. At their core, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these concerns of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to another person, the allegory does not come across as clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. On the other hand, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own response could function as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply turn to your significant other and say, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can embark on today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform now.
