We present a dare for partners in committed relationships who appreciate scary movies: Get comfortable with your loved one and view Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its streaming debut on Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like typical body horror, but beneath Together resides a deep contemplation about how we choose to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have been together for over ten years. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a unique chemistry to their roles, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The narrative commences when Millie and Tim transition from the big city to the country for her career. A commonly used plot device, of course, but that’s mostly where the conventions end. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim tumble into an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence takes hold of the couple. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a methodically building of scares, interspersing bits of dreamlike terrors, gross (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks weaves these elements together expertly and delivers them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and distant from his network of friends. He fears the concept of completely losing his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in Together refrains from painting Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie face the kind of problems that arise in most partnerships a decade in. Deep down, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these fears of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory does not come across as hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, certain partners 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 revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the finale sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your significant other and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
