Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy scary movies: Settle in with your significant other and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like conventional physical horror, but beneath Together lies a intense contemplation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Debut Feature Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together represents the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for over ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the actors infuse a particular energy to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when Tim and Millie move from the urban environment to the rural area for her career. A somewhat stereotypical narrative setup, of course, but that’s largely where the conventions cease. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their rural residence, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim discover an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a strange force begins influencing the duo. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The whole movie is a methodically building fright fest, weaving in bits of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). The director weaves these elements together seamlessly and delivers them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and removed from his support system. He dreads the notion of totally forfeiting his sense of self in his partner. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he never makes either of his characters the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie confront the type of challenges that come with most partnerships a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of codependency and totally devoting oneself to another person, the metaphor does not come across as clumsy or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have understood the narrative as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, some couples having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could function as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and state, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can experience right now.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
