Here's a dare for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your partner and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere on Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like conventional physical horror, but inside Together lies a profound examination about the ways we decide to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have been together for ten years. Married in real life in 2017, the two stars contribute a special spark to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when Tim and Millie relocate from the metropolis to the rural area for Millie’s job. A commonly used plot device, of course, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim tumble into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a strange force takes hold of the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn of scares, weaving in elements of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes amidst something horrific). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together expertly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his floundering music career inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and distant from his support system. He dreads the notion of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he never makes one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
The couple face the kind of problems that are inherent in long-term unions a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They share moments of joy, offer support, and share intimately at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of codependency and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism does not come across as clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal work together symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a strong argument for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the ending sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply turn to your partner and state, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can experience right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu at present.
