Here's a test for long-term couples who enjoy horror films: Get comfortable with your significant other and stream Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its streaming debut on Hulu. On the surface, it could look like conventional biological terror, but beneath Together lies a intense contemplation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together represents the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for a decade. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars bring a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The narrative commences when Millie and Tim transition from the big city to the country for her career. A commonly used plot device, sure, but that’s mostly where the tropes cease. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their country house, a storm hits, and the two fall into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a strange force starts to affect the couple. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying horror experience, weaving in moments of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) body horror, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and delivers them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and far away from his support system. He fears the idea of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is amplified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together avoids making one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Both characters face the type of challenges that arise in any relationship a decade in. At their core, they still love each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these anxieties of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the metaphor does not come across as clumsy or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. It has been said that single viewers have understood the narrative as a strong argument for staying single. On the other hand, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could act as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your other half and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can undertake today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu as of this moment.
