Here's a test for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Settle in with your significant other and watch Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its online premiere on Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like conventional biological terror, but inside Together lies a intense contemplation about how we choose to love one another.
A Debut Feature Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, partners that have stayed together for ten years. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, the actors bring a special spark to their roles, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The plot starts when Millie and Tim relocate from the metropolis to the countryside for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s largely where the cliches conclude. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the two fall into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence begins influencing the pair. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying fright fest, weaving in moments of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes amidst something disturbing). The director orchestrates these parts neatly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his floundering music career inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and distant from his network of friends. He dreads the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in another person. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision is that he never makes either of his characters the definite antagonist.
The couple grapple with the kind of problems that are inherent in long-term unions a decade in. At their core, they have affection for each other. They find humor with each other, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these fears of codependency and fully committing to another person, the metaphor avoids being hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have understood the narrative as a strong argument for staying single. Meanwhile, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could act as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the ending plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and say, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can experience at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform now.
