We present a test for partners in committed relationships who enjoy horror films: Get comfortable with your loved one and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit recently had its streaming debut on Hulu. At first glance, it could look like standard biological terror, but beneath Together resides a profound contemplation about how we choose to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for over ten years. United in marriage in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a unique chemistry to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The story starts when Millie and Tim move from the urban environment to the country for professional reasons. A commonly used plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the cliches cease. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim tumble into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence begins influencing the couple. This force creates a otherworldly bond between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn of scares, blending moments of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and presents them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is waning due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He is terrified of the notion of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is intensified by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision is that he refrains from painting either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Both characters face the sort of issues that come with long-term unions over a long period. Deep down, they still love one another. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, 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 metaphor does not come across as overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could function as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your other half and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform at present.
