Consider this a challenge for partners in committed relationships who are fans of scary movies: Settle in with your loved one and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it might appear like conventional biological terror, but beneath Together resides a deep examination about our choices in loving each other.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for ten years. Married in reality in 2017, the actors contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when Tim and Millie move from the metropolis to the countryside for her career. A familiar narrative setup, sure, but that’s mostly where the conventions end. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their country house, a storm hits, and the protagonists discover an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the pair. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn fright fest, interspersing elements of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and presents them in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and distant from his network of friends. He fears the concept of completely losing his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together avoids making Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Both characters face the kind of problems that arise in most partnerships a decade in. Deep down, they continue to care for each other. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these fears of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to another person, the symbolism avoids being overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal work together symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that single viewers have interpreted the film as a strong argument for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, some couples having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could act as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your other half and state, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu as of this moment.
