“Oh Goddammit not another pandemic movie”, is something I hope to never have to say to myself when/if this global nightmare ever ends. The vast majority have little to nothing to say about the crisis we’re all going through, and why would we ever want to watch a fictional story about something we are struggling with in real-time? It has never made sense to me. Fortunately, Stephen Daldry’s blistering, raw, heartbreaking and funny two-hander drama Together, which features top-notch performances by James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan, is the perfect antidote to those sick of movies about the pandemic experience. Free from heavy messaging about the impact of quarantine, it allows McAvoy and Horgan the space to build true lived-in characters in the middle of a crumbling relationship held together by a child they share.
Together doesn’t waste time, either. McAvoy and Horgan, playing nameless figures in a partnership that was once lovely but now fueled by hate, come out of the gates red-hot. They don’t just bicker back and forth, they take deep cut personal jabs at one another; including an admission that one may have actually tried to poison the other. Politically, they don’t match up, their parenting styles clash (he calls their son Artie, she insists on Arthur) and these two are basically polar opposites in just about every way. Set in the beginning stages of lockdown in the UK, but stretching the course of a full year and into vaccination, the film doesn’t pull any punches in showing the impact of being in such close-knit quarters with emotions that run so high.
In the early going, audiences will be compelled to pick sides. He’s a bit of a prick, she’s almost too nice to be true. The rough ‘n tumble screenplay by Dennis Kelly is unsympathetic to both, and allegiances formed with any character will almost certainly shift as new information pops up. The passage of time is marked by rising COVID statistics, but also major events which evolve along the way: her mother’s health begins to fade, his once-thriving business begins to deteriorate, forcing him to reevaluate his very conservative stance on workers and social benefits.
Mainly, Together is watching these two people, who clearly had passion for one another at an earlier time, move to a point that he poetically calls “the love that exists beyond hate.” While some may balk at a film that has its characters talking directly to the audience for vast portions, it works to form a lasting connection with them. It takes an incredible pair of actors to pull that off without it becoming annoying, and fortunately Together has McAvoy and Horgan who perfectly portray imperfect people. McAvoy has rarely been this funny but also this vicious (I had Clive Owen in Closer flashbacks), while Horgan gives as good as she gets. Both actors seem to be enjoying the opportunity to really cut loose, to yell, to bicker. There’s so much dialogue coming at you that Together can sometimes feel a bit messy. Who are you supposed to side with? Who is really being honest? Should these people even be in the same space much less in one another’s lives? The messiness of it all is the point; love isn’t a tidy thing under the best of circumstances and definitely not with the state of the world right now.
Together is available in theaters on August 27th, followed by VOD on September 17th.
