Consider this a dare for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of horror films: Sit down with your significant other and view Together. The independent film success of 2025 recently had its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like standard biological terror, but within Together exists a intense meditation about the ways we decide to love each other.
An Introductory Film Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together marks the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have stayed together for ten years. Married in reality in 2017, the actors bring a particular energy to their roles, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The plot commences when Millie and Tim relocate from the urban environment to the rural area for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the tropes cease. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their new home, a storm hits, and the protagonists fall into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity takes hold of the couple. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying of scares, blending elements of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and presents them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is deteriorating due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and distant from his support system. He fears the notion of completely losing his individual identity in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie refrains from painting one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie grapple with the kind of problems that come with long-term unions over a long period. At their core, they still love one another. They still laugh together, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these concerns of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory does not come across as clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the other in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for staying single. Meanwhile, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could function as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the ending plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply look at your significant other and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can embark on right now.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu now.
