Here's a challenge for long-term couples who enjoy scary movies: Sit down with your loved one and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. Outwardly, it could look like conventional physical horror, but beneath Together exists a deep contemplation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Directorial Debut Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a special spark to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The narrative commences when the couple move from the metropolis to the rural area for her career. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions conclude. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the protagonists fall into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence starts to affect the couple. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a methodically building of scares, weaving in moments of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and removed from his support system. He is terrified of the notion of completely losing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is amplified by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together never makes either of his characters the definite antagonist.
The couple grapple with the type of challenges that come with long-term unions over a long period. At their core, they continue to care for one another. They still laugh together, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these anxieties of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the allegory never feels clumsy or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. On the other hand, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could function as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the finale inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your significant other and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can embark on right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform at present.
