Consider this a challenge for partners in committed relationships who appreciate the horror genre: Sit down with your significant other and view Together. This 2025 indie hit recently had its streaming debut via Hulu. Outwardly, it may seem like standard physical horror, but beneath Together lies a profound contemplation about how we choose to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together represents the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, the actors contribute a unique chemistry to their roles, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when the couple move from the metropolis to the rural area for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical narrative setup, sure, but that’s primarily where the conventions cease. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the protagonists discover an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force takes hold of the duo. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a methodically building of scares, weaving in bits of fever-dream horrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes amidst something horrific). Shanks skillfully blends these components expertly and presents them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and far away from his network of friends. He is terrified of the notion of completely losing his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he can’t drive and relies on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in Together avoids making one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie face the sort of issues that come with long-term unions over a long period. At their core, they still love one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the metaphor never feels hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that single viewers have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Conversely, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could function as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply turn to your other half and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can embark on today.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
