Here's a dare for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of scary movies: Settle in with your significant other and view Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere via Hulu. On the surface, it could look like conventional biological terror, but inside Together resides a deep contemplation about the ways we decide to love each other.
An Introductory Film Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together is the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for over ten years. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a unique chemistry to their roles, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The story starts when Millie and Tim move from the urban environment to the rural area for her career. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s largely where the cliches end. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the protagonists fall into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the duo. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a methodically building of scares, interspersing elements of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but never too gross) body horror, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks weaves these elements together expertly and presents them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and far away from his support system. He dreads the idea of completely losing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision is that he avoids making one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
The couple face the kind of problems that are inherent in long-term unions after ten years. At their core, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these anxieties of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the metaphor does not come across as hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that single viewers have understood the narrative as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending plant anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your significant other and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can experience at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu now.
