Here's a test for partners in committed relationships who enjoy horror films: Get comfortable with your partner and view Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its online premiere on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it may seem like conventional physical horror, but inside Together exists a deep meditation about our choices in loving one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have stayed together for a decade. United in marriage in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a special spark to their roles, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The narrative starts when Tim and Millie relocate from the metropolis to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar story element, sure, but that’s mostly where the tropes cease. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two fall into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a strange force takes hold of the duo. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying of scares, interspersing elements of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and authentically humorous exchanges (sometimes during something grotesque). The director skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and removed from his support system. He is terrified of the notion of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision is that he refrains from painting one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
The couple confront the type of challenges that arise in most partnerships after ten years. Fundamentally, they still love each other. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to another person, the metaphor never feels hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal work together symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. It has been said that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a strong argument for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could function as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale sow anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your partner and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can experience today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu now.
