Here's a challenge for long-term couples who appreciate scary movies: Settle in with your loved one and view Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it might appear like standard biological terror, but inside Together exists a deep meditation about the ways we decide to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for a decade. United in marriage in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a unique chemistry to their roles, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The narrative starts when Millie and Tim transition from the metropolis to the rural area for Millie’s job. A familiar narrative setup, sure, but that’s mostly where the tropes end. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their new home, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim discover an underground cave. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity begins influencing the duo. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying horror experience, weaving in elements of dreamlike terrors, gross (but never too gross) body horror, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes during something grotesque). Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and removed from his social circle. He is terrified of the notion of completely losing his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he refrains from painting one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
The couple grapple with the kind of problems that come with long-term unions a decade in. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these anxieties of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory never feels clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the horror and the drama serve the other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, some couples having disagreements found that the film actually helped them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could act as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the finale sow a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply look at your significant other and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu as of this moment.
