Consider this a test for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Sit down with your partner and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit recently had its streaming debut on the Hulu service. On the surface, it could look like conventional body horror, but inside Together resides a profound contemplation about how we choose to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together marks the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for a decade. Married in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a special spark to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when the couple relocate from the big city to the rural area for Millie’s job. A familiar story element, of course, but that’s largely where the tropes cease. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two discover an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence takes hold of the duo. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past simple connection.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying of scares, blending moments of fever-dream horrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and removed from his network of friends. He dreads the concept of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is intensified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in Together refrains from painting one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
The couple confront the kind of problems that come with long-term unions after ten years. Fundamentally, they still love each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these concerns of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory never feels hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that single viewers have understood the narrative as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. Conversely, some couples experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your partner and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu at present.
