We present a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy the horror genre: Settle in with your significant other and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like conventional body horror, but inside Together resides a intense meditation about our choices in loving each other.
An Introductory Film Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, the two stars contribute a unique chemistry to their roles, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The plot starts when the couple relocate from the urban environment to the rural area for her career. A commonly used plot device, sure, but that’s mostly where the tropes end. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim fall into an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence begins influencing the duo. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying fright fest, interspersing bits of dreamlike terrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes amidst something grotesque). The director orchestrates these parts expertly and wraps them up in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and far away from his support system. He fears the concept of completely losing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision is that he never makes one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Both characters confront the kind of problems that arise in any relationship after ten years. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these concerns of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory never feels clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could function as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply look at your significant other and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu as of this moment.
