TOGETHER is an impudent entry into the body horror genre in which the fusing together of two people becomes a, ahem, visceral metaphor for intimacy before venturing gamely into a novel definition of a happy ending. Working on two levels at once, the result is a film that provokes and repels all while considering the pros and cons of a long-term relationship where the romance is fading, as in no sex for several months, even if true love is still around. Or is it just habit?
Our couple is Millie and Tim (real-life couple Allison Brie and Dave Franco). She is a teacher relocating them from the city to the bucolic splendor of the country to pursue her dream of teaching in a smallish school, and he is a musician still dreaming of stardom. It’s a fading dream that is taking its toll on their relationship, though each is still in love with the other, there are sharp edges poking holes in their interactions, holes that are getting wider and more ragged no matter how hard they try. How bad things have become is made clear with an awkward proposal prompts the question of whether or not it would be easier to separate now rather than later. The question will become more salient, and a true test of their needs and intentions when the hike they take shortly after moving to the country lands them in an odd cave overnight, during which they drink from a pool of water that will, thanks to its magical properties, settle their dilemma once and for all.
What works best is the perceptive way this relationship is written, where dinner table small talk in front of a neighbor (Damon Herriman) takes a sharp turn into acerbic barbs that reveal lurking resentments and unresolved wounds. Brie and Franco have the lived-in chemistry required to make this a couple you can root for, and the subtlety to make you wonder if that’s in their best interest. When the supernatural element rears its head, and the metaphor takes over, it becomes a perfect externalization of the couple’s issues. Never has the need for personal space been more acutely represented on every level. Never has the need for connection been more acutely represented.
While the characterization is perfection, the plotting can be a bit abrupt, with Tim’s childhood trauma getting short shrift despite some gruesome flashbacks. Fortunately, the verisimilitude of Millie and Tim compensates, from the way Tim’s plaintive “I love you” is met with a non-committal “okay” from Millie, to the exchange before and after Millie takes a cordless jigsaw to an early fusion that is only slightly less ruthless (but just as funny) than what happens after they finally engage in coitus in an unfortunate location. There are also the special effects, which range from what happens when the couple gets under each other’s skin non-metaphorically, to the somehow more ominous way that their blood slowly but relentlessly trickles from one to the other when they are fighting to stay apart.
TOGETHER is suitably disturbing while also being wildly romantic in a decidedly unsentimental way. Deliberately provocative, it’s a low-key, slow-burn study of the difference between getting what you need and getting what you want.
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