We present a test for partners in committed relationships who enjoy scary movies: Sit down with your significant other and stream Together. This 2025 indie hit recently had its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like typical physical horror, but inside Together lies a deep examination about our choices in loving our partners.
A Debut Feature Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the actors contribute a particular energy to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The story starts when Millie and Tim transition from the big city to the country for her career. A familiar plot device, sure, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their rural residence, a violent storm occurs, and the two tumble into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a strange force takes hold of the pair. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The entire film is a methodically building fright fest, weaving in moments of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and delivers them in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and far away from his network of friends. He dreads the idea of completely losing his sense of self in another person. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie never makes Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
The couple face the type of challenges that are inherent in long-term unions over a long period. Deep down, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these anxieties of codependency and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism does not come across as overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in harmony.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your significant other and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can experience right now.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
