Here's a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your loved one and view Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. At first glance, it could look like standard physical horror, but inside Together resides a profound contemplation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together represents the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for a decade. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, the two stars bring a unique chemistry to their characters, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when the couple relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for her career. A familiar story element, admittedly, 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.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim discover an underground cave. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity starts to affect the pair. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The whole movie is a slow burn of scares, weaving in bits of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and delivers them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is only the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and removed from his support system. He fears the concept of completely losing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he can’t drive and relies on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together avoids making either of his characters the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie face the sort of issues that arise in most partnerships over a long period. Fundamentally, they have affection for one another. They share moments of joy, offer support, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their bond.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the symbolism never feels clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that single viewers have understood the narrative as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Conversely, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could act as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending plant anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your other half and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can experience today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform now.
