Consider this a test for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your loved one and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere via Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like standard physical horror, but inside Together exists a intense meditation about how we choose to love each other.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have been together for over ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the actors bring a particular energy to their characters, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The story commences when Tim and Millie relocate from the metropolis to the countryside for her career. A familiar narrative setup, of course, but that’s primarily where the tropes end. Together becomes as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim discover an underground cave. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence takes hold of the pair. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The whole movie is a methodically building of scares, weaving in elements of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes during something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and presents them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is exclusively the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his support system. He dreads the notion of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he can’t drive and needs Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in Together refrains from painting one partner or the other the obvious villain.
The couple confront the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships after ten years. Fundamentally, they have affection for each other. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory never feels clumsy or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that single viewers have interpreted the film as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could act as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your partner and say, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can embark on right now.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
