Consider this a dare for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy horror films: Settle in with your significant other and view Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. At first glance, it could look like conventional body horror, but within Together lies a deep examination about how we choose to love one another.
A Debut Feature Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for over ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, the actors contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The story commences when Millie and Tim move from the big city to the country for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the tropes end. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the two discover an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence begins influencing the duo. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a methodically building of scares, interspersing moments of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes amidst something grotesque). The director skillfully blends these components expertly and presents them in a gradually swelling atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than 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 moved to the country and removed from his support system. He fears the idea of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in Together never makes one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Both characters grapple with the sort of issues that come with any relationship over a long period. At their core, they have affection for one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these fears of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the symbolism does not come across as hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal work together symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a strong argument for staying single. On the other hand, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can embark on today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu now.
