Together Review – Heartfelt, Tour de Force Performances

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Category: Indies, Docs, Foreign Film

Published on Friday, 27 August 2021 13:56

Written by Janet Walker

Together, from Bleeker Street Media, is the emotional story of a family, like so many, who found a way to survive though the pandemic as it ravages, cutting a swath through them, their families, and the world.

The story begins on day one of lockdown in the United Kingdom, and captures the blind moments as the common man, the population, begins to navigate uncharted waters as our couple, like families through the world, depleted store shelves of necessities.

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As he, played by James McAvoy and she played by Sharon Horgan, each realize they are stuck, thrown into a ring with the one person in the entire world, that at this moment, they simply cannot bear the idea of spending another waking moment in close proximity. Yet, like so many couples who stay together, when the relationship has run its course, they have a child, Artie, played by Samuel Logan, who is caught in the middle.  

This sets off act one which is filled with drama and bickering with a frightening passion that borders, at times, on abuse and lunacy. With an intensity, the two insult each other with degrading, cheap, hurtful, and stinging words. It is challenging to sit through.

As they are explaining the ups and downs of their relationship, they interject their position, he owns his own tech company, and she works with a charity and feel comfortable about their finances. These are informed educated couple, and the vagueness of information, from leaders who are charting the unknown blind, is apparent and expressed.

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The pandemic begins to overshadow life, as they each comment on the home health care workers, or carer's as they are referred to in the UK, and what they have had to endure throughout the pandemic.

Unable to visit her mother, her sister, who we don't meet, moves her mother into an assisted living home and they both pause as they contemplate her safety in her new home. Soon Christmas has arrived, and we find her mother has contracted the coronavirus and is in intensive care.

It is at this point, essentially act two, that we witness the change. The monologues that each deliver at this time, are heartfelt, poignant, and emotional and capture the soul of a global population who endured similar scenes.

Time continues to tick away, and the pandemic, as we see with the running overlay, which has explained throughout the film the timeline of cases, deaths and as we move into the third act the vaccination status.

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By this time, the uncertainty and trauma of the pandemic and more than this unknowing, the personal heartache, the rawness of the challenges, have acted as a suave to heal a few of the deep hurts and insults the pair hurtled at each other, with precision, when the world was moving full steam ahead.  

Believing the pandemic is ending, or life is somehow returning to a new normal, which no one seems to know what that is either, the pair finally hit the bullseye as each have been so sure they would be rejected by the other, that they were determined to make sure they rejected the other first.

When that didn't work, and for some unknown reason they managed to get through the harsh and venomous moments, they decided that they had somehow made it through this deep, dark valley and there actually is light, fresh air, and decide to take their relationship to the next level.

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Together is as hilarious as it is heartbreaking and intimately presents two partners forced to re-evaluate themselves and their relationship through the reality of lockdown.

Breaking the fourth wall the couple presents their story to the off-camera observer, which is essentially, the audience at large. Poignant and authentic moments, from each, capture the height of the pandemic as it ravaged families and lives.

Together delivers heartfelt, tour de force performances, and opens August 27, 2021, in select cities. Check local listings.

Country: United Kingdom.

Language: English with British slang.

Runtime: 91minutes.

Director: Stephen Daldry.

Screenwriter:  Dennis Kelly.

Producer: Sonia Friedman, Guy Heeley.

Cast: James McAvoy, Sharon Horgan, Samuel Logan.