Consider this a test for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate scary movies: Sit down with your significant other and view Together. The 2025 indie hit recently had its online premiere on Hulu. At first glance, it could look like standard biological terror, but within Together exists a deep examination about our choices in loving our partners.
A Debut Feature Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together represents the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for ten years. Having wed in reality in 2017, the two stars bring a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The narrative begins when the couple move from the urban environment to the country for her career. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the tropes cease. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim discover an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence takes hold of the pair. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past simple connection.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying of scares, blending bits of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) body horror, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes during something horrific). The director skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is only the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and distant from his support system. He dreads the idea of completely losing his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is amplified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together never makes either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie confront the kind of problems that arise in most partnerships a decade in. Deep down, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to another person, the symbolism never feels overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. It has been said that single viewers have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. Conversely, some couples having disagreements found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
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 heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply turn to your significant other and state, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can experience today.
Together is streaming on Hulu now.
