Here's a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate horror films: Settle in with your significant other and stream Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. At first glance, it could look like standard body horror, but inside Together lies a profound meditation about how we choose to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars infuse a special spark to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The plot commences when the couple relocate from the big city to the country for Millie’s job. A familiar plot device, of course, but that’s primarily where the conventions end. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists tumble into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence takes hold of the duo. This force creates a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying horror experience, weaving in bits of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes amidst something horrific). The director weaves these elements together seamlessly and wraps them up in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and far away from his social circle. He dreads the idea of completely losing his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he can’t drive and relies on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie refrains from painting Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie confront the sort of issues that are inherent in any relationship after ten years. At their core, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these fears of codependency and fully committing to another person, the allegory avoids being clumsy or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that single viewers have seen the movie as a strong argument for staying single. Meanwhile, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could act as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply turn to your significant other and say, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu at present.
