We present a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of scary movies: Settle in with your significant other and stream Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere on Hulu. At first glance, it could look like standard biological terror, but beneath Together exists a deep meditation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Debut Feature Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a unique chemistry to their characters, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The plot begins when the couple relocate from the big city to the country for her career. A familiar story element, admittedly, but that’s largely where the conventions end. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their rural residence, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim discover an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence starts to affect the duo. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying of scares, interspersing moments of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes during something disturbing). Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and presents them in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his floundering music career gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and distant from his social circle. He is terrified of the concept of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together avoids making one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Both characters confront the sort of issues that are inherent in any relationship over a long period. At their core, they still love one another. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism does not come across as overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. Conversely, some couples who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own response could function as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending plant anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your significant other and state, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can embark on right now.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu at present.
