Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your loved one and watch Together. The independent film success of 2025 recently had its online premiere on Hulu. Outwardly, it could look like standard body horror, but within Together exists a profound contemplation about our choices in loving one another.
A Debut Feature Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have been together for a decade. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, the actors infuse a unique chemistry to their characters, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The plot commences when Tim and Millie move from the metropolis to the country for her career. A commonly used story element, of course, but that’s primarily where the conventions conclude. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their country house, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim fall into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence takes hold of the duo. This force creates a otherworldly bond between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The whole movie is a slow burn fright fest, blending moments of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) body horror, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Shanks skillfully blends these components expertly and presents them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is deteriorating due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and distant from his network of friends. He is terrified of the idea of completely losing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together avoids making Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
Both characters face the kind of problems that arise in most partnerships a decade in. Fundamentally, they still love one another. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these anxieties of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the metaphor never feels hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply look at your other half and state, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can experience at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
