We present a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy scary movies: Settle in with your significant other and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it may seem like standard biological terror, but inside Together resides a intense meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars infuse a unique chemistry to their characters, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The story begins when Millie and Tim move from the big city to the country for her career. A familiar story element, admittedly, but that’s largely where the tropes cease. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their country house, a storm hits, and the protagonists discover an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a strange force begins influencing the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past simple connection.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying horror experience, blending elements of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and removed from his network of friends. He fears the notion of totally forfeiting his sense of self in his partner. This fear is amplified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie never makes Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie confront the type of challenges that come with long-term unions a decade in. Fundamentally, they still love each other. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these concerns of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to another person, the metaphor does not come across as overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the other symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. It has been said that single viewers have seen the movie as a strong argument for staying single. Conversely, some couples having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could function as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion sow a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply look at your significant other and state, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can experience today.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
