Taglines: Love in the Age of COVID.
Together is the story of a family, like so many, who found a way to survive–together. It is the hilarious and heartbreaking story of a husband and wife who are forced to re-evaluate themselves and their relationship through the reality of lockdown. The film is set in the United Kingdom from the first days of the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 until the present day.
“Scenes from a Marriage” meets the pandemic in “Together,” a two-character drama from director Stephen Daldry. Filmed, like pretty much everything at the time of this writing, under lockdown conditions, and pointedly acknowledging that reality, it’s the story of a couple whose disintegrating relationship is rekindled, reconsidered, and mercilessly dissected while they and their ten-year old special needs son are stuck in a house together. The timespan is roughly February, 2020, through spring of the following year. As of this writing, the wounds from this international catastrophe are so fresh that there aren’t even scabs to tear off yet.
The film’s setting is firmly, at times self-consciously upper-middle class, but “Together” still aims for an archetypal feeling. The characters are identified in the closing credits as “he” and “she,” and we never learn their actual names. Played with empathy and wit by James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan, they have undeniable chemistry. But political and philosophical issues come between them. He’s a working class conservative who did well for himself in film production technology.
Helieves that Hobbes’ state of Nature weeds out the weak, while she’s a left-leaning moderate from a well-off family who believes in workers’ rights and a safety net and is an executive at a nonprofit that relocates European refugees. Just as importantly, for purposes of drama, they hate each other as much as they love each other, and admit it when they’re arguing.
Together is a 2021 British comedy-drama television film written by Dennis Kelly and directed by Stephen Daldry. It stars James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan as a couple re-evaluating their relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Samuel Logan making an appearance as their son, Artie. It was shot in ten days in Kensal Rise, London.
The film was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on June 17, 2021. Upon release, it received generally positive reviews from critics, with some calling it a “claustrophobic”, “brilliant”, and “honest” film set during the pandemic. However, a mixed response was given on its use of monologues and fourth wall breaks.
In her review, Lucy Mangan from The Guardian gave Together four stars out of five and wrote that it “captures perfectly the emotional dilapidations of a dying relationship”. Together was theatrically released in the United States by Bleecker Street on August 27, 2021.
Together (2021)
Directed by: Stephen Daldry
Starring: James McAvoy, Sharon Horgan, Samuel Logan
Screenplay by: Dennis Kelly
Production Design by: Karen Wakefield
Cinematography by: Iain Struthers
Film Editing by: Úna Ní Dhonghaíle
Art Direction by: Lucy Cunnington
Music by: Paul Englishby
MPAA Rating: R for language throughout.
Distributed by: Bleecker Street
Release Date: June 17, 2021 (United Kingdom), August 27, 2021 (United States)
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