We present a challenge for long-term couples who enjoy scary movies: Settle in with your significant other and view Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere on Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like standard body horror, but beneath Together resides a profound meditation about how we choose to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together is the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a special spark to their roles, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The narrative commences when the couple transition from the big city to the rural area for Millie’s job. A commonly used narrative setup, of course, but that’s mostly where the cliches conclude. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim fall into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence begins influencing the pair. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past simple connection.
The entire film is a methodically building fright fest, interspersing bits of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is only the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and distant from his social circle. He is terrified of the notion of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in another person. This fear is amplified by the fact he can’t drive and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie never makes one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
The couple face the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships a decade in. At their core, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and share intimately at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the allegory does not come across as clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights work together symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for staying single. On the other hand, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ultimately assisted them resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion sow anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply look at your significant other and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can undertake right now.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
