We present a test for long-term couples who are fans of scary movies: Sit down with your significant other and view Together. This independent film success of 2025 recently had its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. At first glance, it could look like typical body horror, but within Together resides a profound contemplation about how we choose to love each other.
A Debut Feature Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together is the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a unique chemistry to their characters, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The story starts when the couple move from the big city to the country for Millie’s job. A familiar story element, of course, but that’s largely where the conventions end. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists fall into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a strange force takes hold of the couple. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying fright fest, weaving in moments of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and delivers them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is exclusively the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self 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 floundering music career inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and far away from his social circle. He fears the concept of totally forfeiting his sense of self in another person. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he can’t drive and relies on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie avoids making either of his characters the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie face the type of challenges that arise in most partnerships a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They find humor with each other, offer support, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of excessive reliance and fully committing to another person, the symbolism does not come across as hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a strong argument for staying single. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your significant other and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu now.
