Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who appreciate horror films: Sit down with your loved one and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. On the surface, it could look like typical body horror, but within Together resides a deep examination about our choices in loving our partners.
A Debut Feature Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for a decade. Having wed in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a unique chemistry to their roles, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The narrative begins when Tim and Millie move from the big city to the country for her career. A familiar narrative setup, of course, but that’s mostly where the tropes conclude. Together becomes as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and the protagonists tumble into an underground cave. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity takes hold of the pair. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The complete narrative is a slow burn horror experience, weaving in elements of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but tastefully done) body horror, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and far away from his support system. He is terrified of the idea of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in another person. This fear is intensified by the fact he can’t drive and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he refrains from painting one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie confront the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships over a long period. Fundamentally, they have affection for each other. They still laugh together, provide solace, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these fears of excessive reliance and fully committing to a partner, the allegory never feels clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own response could act as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the ending inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your significant other and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can embark on today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu now.
