Here's a dare for long-term couples who are fans of scary movies: Sit down with your significant other and watch Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. At first glance, it may seem like standard biological terror, but inside Together lies a deep contemplation about how we choose to love one another.
A Debut Feature Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars infuse a unique chemistry to their roles, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The story starts when Tim and Millie transition from the big city to the countryside for her career. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, of course, but that’s primarily where the tropes conclude. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their country house, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim fall into an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence takes hold of the couple. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying horror experience, blending moments of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and authentically humorous exchanges (sometimes during something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and presents them in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is waning due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and distant from his support system. He fears the notion of completely losing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he never makes either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Both characters face the kind of problems that arise in any relationship a decade in. At their core, they have affection for one another. They still laugh together, provide solace, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the allegory never feels clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. It has been said that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could act as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the ending inspire anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your partner and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can embark on today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu now.
