We present a test for long-term couples who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your loved one and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. On the surface, it may seem like standard biological terror, but within Together exists a profound meditation about our choices in loving our partners.
An Introductory Film Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together is the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for a decade. Married in reality in 2017, the two stars contribute a particular energy to their roles, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The plot commences when the couple relocate from the metropolis to the country for professional reasons. A familiar narrative setup, of course, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim discover an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity takes hold of the pair. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The complete narrative is a methodically building horror experience, weaving in bits of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and delivers them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and far away from his support system. He is terrified of the notion of completely losing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he can’t drive and needs Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together avoids making one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie grapple with the type of challenges that come with most partnerships a decade in. At their core, they continue to care for one another. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of excessive reliance and fully committing to another person, the allegory avoids being clumsy or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the other in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that single viewers have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. On the other hand, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the finale sow a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your other half and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can embark on today.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
