We present a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy horror films: Sit down with your significant other and view Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like standard body horror, but inside Together exists a profound contemplation about the ways we decide to love one another.
A Debut Feature Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for ten years. United in marriage in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a unique chemistry to their roles, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The story commences when the couple relocate from the big city to the countryside for professional reasons. A familiar story element, sure, but that’s mostly where the cliches conclude. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the protagonists fall into an underground cave. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a strange force begins influencing the couple. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past simple connection.
The complete narrative is a methodically building horror experience, blending elements of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and presents them in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and far away from his network of friends. He dreads the concept of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he can’t drive and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie avoids making either of his characters the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie face the kind of problems that arise in most partnerships over a long period. Fundamentally, they still love one another. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory never feels clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama work together symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could act as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your partner and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can embark on right now.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform at present.
