Consider this a dare for partners in committed relationships who enjoy horror films: Settle in with your loved one and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit recently had its streaming debut on Hulu. At first glance, it could look like conventional biological terror, but inside Together lies a profound meditation about our choices in loving one another.
A Directorial Debut Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for a decade. Married in actuality in 2017, the actors bring a special spark to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The narrative begins when the couple move from the metropolis to the country for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the two discover an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity begins influencing the pair. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying of scares, weaving in bits of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but never too gross) physical transformations, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). The director skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and far away from his social circle. He dreads the idea of completely losing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together refrains from painting either of his characters the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie grapple with the kind of problems that come with long-term unions a decade in. Fundamentally, they have affection for each other. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these fears of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory never feels overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. Conversely, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could act as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending sow a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply look at your partner and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can embark on right now.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
