Consider this a test for partners in committed relationships who appreciate scary movies: Get comfortable with your significant other and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its streaming debut via Hulu. On the surface, it could look like typical body horror, but inside Together lies a profound contemplation about the ways we decide to love one another.
A Debut Feature Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, the two stars infuse a unique chemistry to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The story starts when Tim and Millie relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for professional reasons. A familiar story element, of course, but that’s primarily where the tropes cease. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the two tumble into an underground cave. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity begins influencing the pair. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying horror experience, weaving in bits of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and wraps them up in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and distant from his social circle. He fears the concept of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is intensified by the reality he can’t drive and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in Together never makes one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Both characters face the kind of problems that come with long-term unions after ten years. Fundamentally, they have affection for each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these anxieties of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism never feels overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have understood the narrative as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. Conversely, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your other half and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can undertake right now.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform at present.
