Here's a dare for partners in committed relationships who enjoy scary movies: Sit down with your significant other and stream Together. This independent film success of 2025 just made its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like typical body horror, but inside Together resides a intense contemplation about the ways we decide to love each other.
An Introductory Film Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together represents the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for a decade. United in marriage in real life in 2017, the actors infuse a unique chemistry to their roles, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The plot starts when the couple relocate from the metropolis to the rural area for Millie’s job. A commonly used narrative setup, of course, but that’s primarily where the cliches end. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the two tumble into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force takes hold of the duo. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a methodically building of scares, interspersing elements of fever-dream horrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). The director weaves these elements together neatly and presents them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and distant from his network of friends. He dreads the notion of completely losing his individual identity in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together avoids making either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Both characters face the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships a decade in. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these anxieties of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory does not come across as hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that single viewers have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for staying single. On the other hand, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could function as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your partner and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can undertake today.
Together is streaming on Hulu now.
