Consider this a test for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate scary movies: Get comfortable with your partner and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. At first glance, it could look like standard biological terror, but beneath Together exists a deep contemplation about our choices in loving each other.
An Introductory Film Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together represents the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for over ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, the actors infuse a unique chemistry to their roles, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The story starts when Millie and Tim relocate from the metropolis to the rural area for professional reasons. A commonly used story element, of course, but that’s primarily where the tropes conclude. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their new home, a storm hits, and the protagonists tumble into an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity starts to affect the pair. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying horror experience, weaving in moments of fever-dream horrors, gross (but tastefully done) body horror, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes during something grotesque). Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and presents them in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment 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 moved to the country and removed from his support system. He dreads the idea of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is amplified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie never makes one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Both characters grapple with the type of challenges that arise in most partnerships over a long period. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of codependency and fully committing to another person, the symbolism never feels hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. It has been said that single viewers have understood the narrative as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could function as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the finale plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply look at your partner and state, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu now.
