Here's a test for partners in committed relationships who are fans of scary movies: Settle in with your partner and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its online premiere via Hulu. Outwardly, it may seem like typical body horror, but within Together resides a intense examination about how we choose to love one another.
An Introductory Film Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars infuse a particular energy to their characters, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The plot commences when Millie and Tim relocate from the metropolis to the countryside for her career. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the tropes cease. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists discover an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity takes hold of the duo. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying horror experience, blending elements of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but never too gross) body horror, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes during something disturbing). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his support system. He fears the idea of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie avoids making one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
The couple grapple with the type of challenges that come with long-term unions after ten years. At their core, they continue to care for one another. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these concerns of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the symbolism never feels overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, some couples having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could act as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the ending plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply look at your other half and state, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can embark on right now.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu at present.
