Consider this a dare for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Settle in with your loved one and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie recently had its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it could look like typical biological terror, but within Together lies a profound meditation about how we choose to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. United in marriage in real life in 2017, the actors infuse a special spark to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The plot begins when Tim and Millie relocate from the metropolis to the country for Millie’s job. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s largely where the cliches end. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their country house, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim discover an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity starts to affect the pair. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The complete narrative is a slow burn of scares, blending moments of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes during something grotesque). Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and presents them in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
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 sense of self and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and distant from his support system. He fears the idea of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is amplified by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie avoids making Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie grapple with the sort of issues that arise in most partnerships over a long period. Deep down, they continue to care for one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the allegory does not come across as hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama work together symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Conversely, some couples who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could act as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the ending inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your partner and say, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can undertake today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu now.
