Here's a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of the horror genre: Sit down with your significant other and stream Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie recently had its online premiere on Hulu. Outwardly, it could look like standard body horror, but inside Together exists a deep contemplation about how we choose to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have been together for over ten years. Married in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a particular energy to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when Tim and Millie move from the big city to the countryside for professional reasons. A familiar narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the tropes end. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the protagonists fall into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence takes hold of the couple. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a slow burn of scares, blending bits of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes during something disturbing). The director skillfully blends these components neatly and delivers them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is only the two lead actors, and they masterfully render countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and distant from his social circle. He is terrified of the concept of totally forfeiting his sense of self in Millie. This fear is intensified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision is that he never makes one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Both characters face the type of challenges that come with most partnerships over a long period. At their core, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these anxieties of codependency and fully committing to another person, the allegory does not come across as overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could act as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply turn to your other half and state, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu at present.
