What do the Spice Girls, a Greek myth & Dave Franco’s prosthetic all have in common?

*Caution: Major spoilers ahead for the plot & ending of the 2025 film Together.*

On its surface, the freaky-fun body horror Together is as straight as they come, following long-term couple Tim and Millie (real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie) as they contend with some supernatural forces that put their heteronormative relationship to the test.

How about we take this to the next level?

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But audiences that managed to sit and squirm their way through this gross-out good time have been surprised to discover its queerness runs deep—so deep, in fact, that it traces all the way back to the mythical “Origin Of Love” itself.

From first-time feature filmmaker Michael Shanks, the story centers on wannabe rock star Tim and teacher Millie, whose relationship has settled into a passion-less complacency. When Millie gets a new job at school in a much more rural community, they relocate partly in hope that a change of scenery will be good for them.

Once they’ve moved, the pair takes a hike in the wilderness near their home when a torrential storm forces them to stay the night in a strange cave they stumble into, where Tim drinks from a pool of water. Big mistake!

From there, a series of strange events occur where the couple finds themselves quite literally sticking to one another, and being pulled together like magnets whenever they go their separate ways. Together gets lot of mileage out of this sticky situation, even including a moment where their privates begin to fuse, which is completely horrifying but also… not not hot. Is that wrong to say? (P.S. Franco’s using a prosthetic in that scene, for the record).

Along the way, we’re introduced to one of Millie’s new co-workers, Jamie, who is played by Damon Herriman, and actor probably best known for playing Charles Manson twice, which should be your first sign that there’s more to this guy than meets the eye.

At first, Jamie is sweet and accommodating, even telling the couple that the cave they discovered was once home to a mysterious New Age church. He mentions a husband who we’re led to believe has since passed, and it’s honestly pretty cool to see how nonchalantly Together introduces a queer character into its story.

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But as things get wilder and wilder, we eventually learn that Jamie is a member of that New Age church, and that he was once two individual men who got married and went through a body-fuzing ritual so that they could become one, taking the idea of “boyfriend twins” to new levels of mindf*ck.

Eventually, their situation gets so dire that Millie and Tim have no choice but to fuse in a climactic slow-dance scene hilariously set to the Spice Girls’ classic “2 Become 1″—a needle drop that surely activated millennial gays who grew up with their music—which is so on-the-nose that it’s actually perfect.

Some time later, Millie’s parents approach the couple’s house for a visit. They knock and are greeted at the door by an androgynous person, clearly the combination of both Tim and Millie. And, boom, that’s the end—let the credits roll!

It’s quite the conclusion; a darkly comic final beat that could certainly be read a number of ways. But, for our money, it’s notable that the person we see in those final moments appears normal and happy, as opposed to being distraught over the genderless being they’ve become.

How Together connects to The Origins Of Love myth

And it all ties back to Greek myth, particularly ancient playwright Aristophanes theory about the nature of “eros,” a.k.a. “The Origins Of Love,” which Jamie name-checks when Millie confides in him about her relationship troubles.

The myth was first introduced in Plato’s Symposium, which posits that humanity once consisted of round people with four legs, four arms, and two faces on opposite sides of the head. There were those whose both halves were male, descended from the sun, both female, from the earth, and with male and female parts, from the moon.

As the legend goes, Zeus came to feel threatened by these humans, so he worked with the other gods to split them in half. And, thus, we’ve spent the rest of eternity looking for the rest of ourselves—our soulmates, if you will.

The implications of the myth are quite mind-boggling, effectively saying that even cis, straight couples have queer origins in intersex or androgynous beings. Speaking with Out, Together filmmaker Michael Shanks admits that there’s not some deeper meaning to his film’s shocking final beat, but he hoped that by exploring the myth through the horror lens—and including a character like Jamie—he could deliver a story that speaks to the true universality of love, the good and the bad:

“I was always keen to write queer characters just as any other character that you would write who isn’t queer because there is no difference between us, really,” Shanks shares. “It’s just about finding the person that you love the most and committing to them fully. That’s really what the film’s about, no matter who you are.”

And if watching Together has you curious about the “Origins Of Love,” there’s another film that ponders and deconstructs its meaning in a much more overt way, might we suggest Hedwig & The Angry Inch?

Hell, it’s even got a standout number called “The Origin Of Love,” complete with animated sequences, so you can study out on your Greek mythology while singing along!

Together is now playing in theaters everywhere. Hedwig & The Angry Inch is currently streaming on The Criterion Channel, and is available for digital rental/purchase via Amazon Prime Video.

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