Film Review: TOGETHER (2021): Great Performances in a Sometimes Meandering Dramatic Comedy

Together Review

Together (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin and starring James McAvoy, Sharon Horgan and Samuel Logan.

Together is an extraordinarily acted dramatic comedy that is essentially a two person movie. Those two people are a couple in London who are stuck together in lock down after the arrival of COVID-19. This film is primarily set in their home and revolves around their relationship with each other as they bicker and argue, fight and make up and also deal with the devastating results of the coronavirus not only on their own lives but on the U.K. as a whole. Directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, the film often breaks the fourth wall with the characters speaking directly to the audience and delivering some long monologues which are more often than not very convincing.

James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan portray the couple who aren’t given names but are billed in the credits simply as “he” and “she.” As the film opens, McAvoy’s character is telling Horgan’s how much he hates her face. They are a couple who once had a great relationship but have thus grown apart. McAvoy is playing a character who worked in a technical field but has had his career stalled due to the devastating effects of the coronavirus.

The movie informs the audience about the death toll of people who died from COVID-19 in the UK from when the movie opens in early 2020 until about a year later. A big portion of the film deals with the story line of Horgan’s character’s mother who is in a care home. Without giving too much away, the movie parallels real life events through Horgan’s character’s mom’s predicament. Horgan gives us a lot of great dialogue about the true nature of the neglect that went on when the coronavirus first hit and its devastating effects on people who had family in care homes.

Also, on a lighter note, the movie playfully deals with the sex lives of the “he” character and the “she” character in the film. They do rekindle their sex life during the course of being in lock down and as they discuss their sexual activity, the movie has a lot of fun with the dialogue. Some of the dialogue that stands out includes a talk about how quickly they are each sexually satisfied which is not too fast for either one of them but their sex doesn’t last a particularly long time either.

There is a great scene in the film where the characters discuss mushrooms. Apparently one of them poisoned the other on purpose at one point and the film makes this chat particularly fun as the details of it immensely challenges the relationships of the two characters in the film.

This film also features one other actor in a very brief performance. It is a child actor named Samuel Logan who appears in just a few scenes as the two lead characters’ child. We don’t get much information on the kid and he’s pretty much just in the background for the most part.

The two adult characters talk about marriage during the latter part of the film and the some of the dialogue tends to meander at times even in the early stages of the film when McAvoy talks about his employees and also about a woman who he met that frustrated him immensely.

But, still, Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin have crafted a fascinating film which gives us a glimpse inside the personal lives of a couple struggling to make sense of everything in a changing world which has been forever altered by tragedy.

McAvoy has the less showy role but does a fine job conveying his character’s feelings for the woman who has been by his side through the years and has become his lock down partner for better for worse.

Horgan gets the film’s best dialogue and, occasionally, it gets heavy-handed but, nevertheless, Horgan shines throughout. She is an amazing actress and plays off McAvoy with great precision. I really liked the characters’ chemistry with one another. Whether they’re fighting or talking about intimacy or even talking about the virus, these two performers always keep us watching and wondering which way their relationship will turn next.

Together is, by no means, a perfect film. It’s an intriguing slice of life comedy/drama about events that have hit us all very hard the past year and a half or so. It’s got a stage-like feel to it that gives audiences a sense of reality that we may all be a little too familiar with. It’s a good film.

Rating: 7/10

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