Consider this a test for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate horror films: Sit down with your significant other and watch Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its online premiere on Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like standard body horror, but inside Together lies a profound contemplation about our choices in loving our partners.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for ten years. Having wed in reality in 2017, the actors bring a particular energy to their roles, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The narrative begins when the couple move from the urban environment to the rural area for her career. A commonly used narrative setup, sure, but that’s mostly where the tropes end. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their new home, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim fall into an underground cave. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the pair. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The whole movie is a methodically building fright fest, blending moments of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes during something horrific). The director orchestrates these parts neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is exclusively the two lead actors, and they masterfully render countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than 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 is terrified of the idea of completely losing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is intensified by the fact he can’t drive and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie never makes Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie confront the type of challenges that arise in most partnerships over a long period. At their core, they still love one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to another person, the metaphor avoids being overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights work together in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could function as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending sow anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu at present.
