Here's a test for partners in committed relationships who appreciate the horror genre: Sit down with your significant other and stream Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its streaming debut 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 each other.
A Debut Feature Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together is the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, the two stars contribute a special spark to their characters, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The plot commences when Millie and Tim transition from the metropolis to the countryside for professional reasons. A commonly used plot device, sure, but that’s primarily where the conventions cease. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists tumble into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a strange force starts to affect the pair. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The whole movie is a methodically building of scares, weaving in moments of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes during something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and delivers them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and far away from his social circle. He dreads the concept of totally forfeiting his sense of self in his partner. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie refrains from painting either of his characters the obvious villain.
Both characters face the kind of problems that are inherent in most partnerships a decade in. At their core, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these concerns of codependency and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism avoids being overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights serve the other symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that single viewers have seen the movie as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Conversely, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply look at your significant other and say, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can experience at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform at present.
