Here's a challenge for long-term couples who appreciate the horror genre: Settle in with your significant other and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its streaming debut on Hulu. Outwardly, it may seem like typical physical horror, but inside Together lies a deep meditation about our choices in loving each other.
An Introductory Film Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together marks the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for a decade. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the two stars infuse a particular energy to their characters, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The plot starts when Tim and Millie relocate from the metropolis to the countryside for her career. A commonly used narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their country house, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim discover an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a strange force begins influencing the pair. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past simple connection.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying of scares, interspersing bits of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes during something grotesque). Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and delivers them in a gradually swelling atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and removed from his support system. He dreads the concept of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is intensified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together avoids making one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Both characters grapple with the type of challenges that come with any relationship over a long period. Deep down, they have affection for each other. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to another person, the metaphor never feels hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in harmony.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a strong argument for staying single. Conversely, some couples experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the ending inspire anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your other half and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu now.
