Consider this a challenge for long-term couples who are fans of the horror genre: Get comfortable with your loved one and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its streaming debut via Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like conventional physical horror, but beneath Together exists a profound examination about how we choose to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have been together for a decade. Having wed in real life in 2017, the actors bring a special spark to their characters, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The plot starts when Tim and Millie move from the metropolis to the rural area for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, of course, but that’s primarily where the cliches cease. Together becomes as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their new home, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim tumble into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a strange force starts to affect the duo. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a methodically building fright fest, interspersing elements of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes during something disturbing). Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and wraps them up in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and distant from his support system. He is terrified of the idea of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is amplified by the reality he can’t drive and needs Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he avoids making one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie face the type of challenges that arise in most partnerships over a long period. Fundamentally, they have affection for one another. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of codependency and giving oneself over to another person, the metaphor never feels overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that single viewers have interpreted the film as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Conversely, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could act as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the ending sow a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply look at your other half and say, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu as of this moment.
