Consider this a test for partners in committed relationships who enjoy scary movies: Settle in with your significant other and stream Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. On the surface, it could look like typical body horror, but within Together resides a intense examination about our choices in loving our partners.
An Introductory Film Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together is the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have been together for ten years. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a unique chemistry to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The plot commences when Tim and Millie relocate from the metropolis to the rural area for professional reasons. A familiar narrative setup, sure, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their new home, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim fall into an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity starts to affect the duo. This force creates a otherworldly bond between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying fright fest, weaving in moments of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and presents them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is suffering due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and distant from his social circle. He fears the concept of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is intensified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision is that he never makes Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
Both characters confront the type of challenges that come with any relationship a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to a partner, the metaphor never feels hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that single viewers have understood the narrative as a strong argument for staying single. On the other hand, some couples experiencing tension found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion plant anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply look at your significant other and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu now.
