We present a dare for partners in committed relationships who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your partner and stream Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie recently had its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like typical body horror, but within Together resides a deep contemplation about how we choose to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for a decade. United in marriage in real life in 2017, the actors bring a unique chemistry to their roles, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The narrative commences when Tim and Millie move from the urban environment to the countryside for professional reasons. A commonly used narrative setup, sure, but that’s largely where the conventions cease. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the two tumble into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity starts to affect the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a methodically building of scares, weaving in moments of dreamlike terrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes during something grotesque). The director weaves these elements together seamlessly and presents them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and removed from his support system. He is terrified of the concept of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie never makes one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie confront the type of challenges that come with long-term unions after ten years. Fundamentally, they continue to care for one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these fears of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism never feels hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for staying single. Meanwhile, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could act as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion sow a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply look at your partner and state, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
