Real-life couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco star in this gruelling horror comedy about a couple who, after a move that secludes them from everything they have ever known, find themselves a little too close for comfort. Strengthened by some solid performances and a flair for the humorous in the savagely disgusting, Together is revelling, at times quite literally jaw-dropping and no doubt deserves a rewatch or two even with its fair share of imperfections.
Millie and Tim have been together forever, so much so that they aren’t entirely sure who they were before meeting each other. Their lives are at a crossroads – the night before their big move to the countryside for Millie’s new job, there is evident hesitation, a lack of synchronicity between the two. Despite some last-minute hiccups, the two latch onto each other and take the leap – what would life be without the other, after all? While Millie settles into her new role under the puppy eyes of fellow teacher Jamie (Damon Herriman), Tim must grapple with unemployment and/or being in a long-distance band with his friends. Yet, there is inevitably very little time to think about work for, as they soon realise, something much darker is taking precedence – the fact that their bodies are, hungrily, rapaciously, attracted to each other. While Tim takes the brunt of it, this isn’t something that can be dealt with single-handedly. No, this is something they must do – together.
Brie and Franco are on top form here, a dynamic duo with genuine raw vulnerability and rare comedic timing. There isn’t a second of boredom to be had as the audience is thrown in at the deep end alongside them – it follows the typical creak of a floorboard, strange objects found in the ceiling, type narrative, but it does so with gusto and refreshed energy. Nevertheless, while Millie and Tim are more than likeable, and Brie and Franco offer up the most wonderfully manic of performances (special shoutout to makeup artist Ellie Daniel for making Franco look so incredibly ill the whole time), they suffer from an unfortunate case of limited development and backstory, surely crucial when unpacking the reasons behind their co-dependency. Michael Shanks sets up Tim’s childhood beautifully with some haunting sequences involving his mother as a promising starting point, yet this is dropped half an hour in and never addressed again. The result is a leech-like failed musician with very little to offer besides crazed outbreaks. Meanwhile, Millie is characterised as a teacher eager to make a difference (this does not last long), and a tad too cold and naggy towards Tim, so much so that it’s not immediately perceptible. It is clear that the story would not have worked had the characters been too certain of their relationship – the horror takes flight exactly because they are not. Yet, at no point do they appear to make any effort for each other or complement each other in a way that suggests they need one another besides a brief reference that Millie can drive and Tim can cook. There is sentiment, certainly, but this is no doubt down to Brie and Franco’s unsurprisingly effective chemistry.
At the reverse end of the spectrum, where it lacks in character development, Together tilts too far into its impending urge to explain the unexplainable. Many are the films in which too many plot points are left hazy – yet there are also plenty who rush to give a reason, all of the reasons, as to why something so dumbfounding has occurred to its characters (see Julia Ducournau’s Titane and Grave on either end of said spectrum). Millie and Tim’s co-dependency is ingrained in the metaphorical – for it to then be explained completely defeats the purpose of their growth as a couple. The organic, tangible source behind something that up until the halfway point was a mystery here fails to do the film’s message justice – perhaps in this case, Together should have relied on its audience’s suspension of disbelief a little more.
