Consider this a challenge for long-term couples who appreciate scary movies: Sit down with your partner and view Together. The 2025 indie hit recently had its online premiere via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like typical biological terror, but within Together lies a profound meditation about how we choose to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together marks the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for a decade. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the actors infuse a particular energy to their characters, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The plot begins when Tim and Millie move from the urban environment to the countryside for her career. A familiar narrative setup, of course, but that’s largely where the conventions cease. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and the two discover an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a strange force begins influencing the pair. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past simple connection.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying horror experience, weaving in bits of fever-dream horrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes amidst something disturbing). The director orchestrates these parts seamlessly and presents them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is suffering due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and far away from his social circle. He is terrified of the concept of completely losing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he never makes one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
The couple grapple with the kind of problems that arise in long-term unions over a long period. At their core, they still love each other. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of excessive reliance and fully committing to another person, the allegory never feels hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal work together symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a powerful case for remaining unattached. On the other hand, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could function as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the ending inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply look at your partner and say, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can embark on today.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu at present.
