Here's a test for long-term couples who enjoy scary movies: Sit down with your partner and watch Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. At first glance, it might appear like typical biological terror, but inside Together lies a deep contemplation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together is the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have remained a couple for a decade. Having wed in real life in 2017, the actors bring a special spark to their characters, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The plot starts when Tim and Millie transition from the big city to the countryside for her career. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the cliches cease. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their country house, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim tumble into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence starts to affect the duo. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The entire film is a methodically building of scares, blending elements of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes during something horrific). The director orchestrates these parts seamlessly and delivers them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and far away from his support system. He fears the concept of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie avoids making one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Both characters grapple with the kind of problems that come with any relationship after ten years. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They share moments of joy, offer support, and share intimately at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to another person, the metaphor does not come across as hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in harmony.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have seen the movie as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. On the other hand, some couples experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the ending sow anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your significant other and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu now.
