Consider this a dare for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy the horror genre: Settle in with your loved one and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its streaming debut on Hulu. Outwardly, it might appear like typical body horror, but beneath Together lies a deep examination about our choices in loving each other.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together represents the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for a decade. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the actors contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The story begins when Millie and Tim move from the big city to the rural area for Millie’s job. A commonly used story element, sure, but that’s mostly where the cliches cease. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their country house, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim 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 compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn of scares, weaving in elements of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but never too gross) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He dreads the notion of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he can’t drive and relies on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in Together avoids making either of his characters the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie face the type of challenges that arise in long-term unions after ten years. Fundamentally, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to another person, the symbolism does not come across as clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. It has been said that single viewers have seen the movie as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could function as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the finale plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply look at your other half and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can undertake today.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
