Consider this a test for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy the horror genre: Sit down with your partner and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit recently had its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. At first glance, it may seem like conventional physical horror, but within Together lies a profound meditation about the ways we decide to love one another.
An Introductory Film Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It stars Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for ten years. United in marriage in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The narrative commences when Tim and Millie relocate from the metropolis to the rural area for her career. A familiar story element, sure, but that’s largely where the cliches end. Together becomes as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their rural residence, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists tumble into an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence begins influencing the duo. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The complete narrative is a methodically building horror experience, weaving in elements of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes during something horrific). The director orchestrates these parts expertly and delivers them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and distant from his social circle. He is terrified of the notion of totally forfeiting his individual identity in Millie. This fear is amplified by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together never makes either of his characters the clear bad guy.
The couple grapple with the kind of problems that come with most partnerships over a long period. At their core, they have affection for each other. They share moments of joy, offer support, and share intimately at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory avoids being overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights work together symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. It has been said that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could function as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the ending plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your significant other and say, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can experience today.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu now.
