Here's a test for long-term couples who enjoy scary movies: Sit down with your loved one and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere on the Hulu service. On the surface, it might appear like standard body horror, but beneath Together resides a intense examination about our choices in loving each other.
A Directorial Debut Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together represents the first full-length movie 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 been together for over ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a special spark to their roles, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The plot starts when Tim and Millie relocate from the big city to the country for her career. A commonly used plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions end. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and the two tumble into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force begins influencing the pair. This force creates a otherworldly bond between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying of scares, interspersing elements of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and wraps them up in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is waning due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and removed from his support system. He is terrified of the idea of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie refrains from painting either of his characters the obvious villain.
Both characters grapple with the sort of issues that are inherent in any relationship after ten years. At their core, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these concerns of excessive reliance and fully committing to a partner, the metaphor does not come across as overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that single viewers have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for staying single. Conversely, some couples having disagreements found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your significant other and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can undertake today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform at present.
