Consider this a test for long-term couples who appreciate horror films: Get comfortable with your loved one and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it could look like typical body horror, but beneath Together lies a profound contemplation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, the two stars infuse a particular energy to their characters, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The plot begins when Tim and Millie move from the urban environment to the countryside for professional reasons. A commonly used narrative setup, of course, but that’s largely where the tropes cease. Together becomes as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the two discover an underground cave. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a strange force takes hold of the pair. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a slow burn of scares, blending elements of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes during something horrific). The director weaves these elements together expertly and delivers them in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is only the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is suffering due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He fears the idea of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is intensified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie never makes one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
The couple grapple with the type of challenges that arise in long-term unions over a long period. Fundamentally, they continue to care for one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory never feels overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama serve the other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply look at your other half and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu at present.
