Consider this a test for partners in committed relationships who are fans of the horror genre: Sit down with your loved one and view Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its online premiere on Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like typical biological terror, but within Together resides a intense meditation about how we choose to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together represents the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have stayed together for over ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars bring a particular energy to their roles, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The plot starts when Tim and Millie transition from the big city to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the conventions end. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and the two tumble into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence begins influencing the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past simple connection.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying fright fest, interspersing elements of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but never too gross) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and distant from his support system. He fears the idea of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is intensified by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in Together refrains from painting one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Both characters confront the type of challenges that come with long-term unions a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these concerns of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism avoids being overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the 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. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could act as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the finale plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your significant other and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can embark on today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu as of this moment.
