We present a challenge for partners in committed relationships who are fans of scary movies: Sit down with your significant other and watch Together. This independent film success of 2025 recently had its online premiere via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like conventional body horror, but within Together lies a profound contemplation about the ways we decide to love each other.
An Introductory Film Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together is the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, the actors bring a special spark to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The narrative commences when Tim and Millie move from the big city to the country for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the cliches end. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and the two fall into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity begins influencing the duo. This force creates a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The complete narrative is a methodically building horror experience, blending bits of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and delivers them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He dreads the notion of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie avoids making either of his characters the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie confront the kind of problems that are inherent in long-term unions after ten years. At their core, they still love one another. They still laugh together, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these concerns of codependency and fully committing to another person, the allegory avoids being hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. It has been said that single viewers have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could act as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself 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 exploration you can undertake right now.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu now.
