Consider this a dare for long-term couples who appreciate the horror genre: Settle in with your loved one and view Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like typical biological terror, but within Together lies a profound meditation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Debut Feature Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together represents the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a special spark to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The plot starts when the couple relocate from the urban environment to the country for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, sure, but that’s mostly where the conventions end. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two fall into an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a strange force begins influencing the couple. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The whole movie is a methodically building fright fest, weaving in bits of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but never too gross) physical transformations, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes during something disturbing). Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is only the two lead actors, and they deftly portray countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and distant from his network of friends. He dreads the notion of completely losing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie avoids making either of his characters the clear bad guy.
The couple grapple with the sort of issues that come with any relationship over a long period. Deep down, they have affection for one another. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these anxieties of codependency and totally devoting oneself to another person, the allegory avoids being clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal work together symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could act as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply look at your significant other and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can experience right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu at present.
