Filmed on location, Before the Rains is beautiful to watch and skillfully employs the talents of its cast. It is a humane piece.

| Mar 5, 2021

Before the Rains is an immediate disappointment.

| Jan 28, 2020

Expectedly, the cinematography is superb. And Rahul Bose as the conflicted handyman stands out. The rest of it is quite linear and ordinary.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 20, 2019

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 24, 2011

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 18, 2011

If only the whole thing weren't so pretty.

| Aug 15, 2011

Mechanical through and through.

| Jan 21, 2011

Has the moral overtones of an EM Forster story, but is curiously lacking in emotional force.

| Original Score: 3/6 | Jan 8, 2009

While not without its merits (the performances of Jennifer Ehle and Rahul Bose are particular highlights), Before the Rains ultimately suffers from a downpour of melodrama.

| Jan 8, 2009

The film certainly looks beautiful as it captures the lush beauty of its mountainous, green Indian landscape, but acclaimed cinematographer turned director Santosh Sivan is only partially successful when it comes to the storytelling

| Dec 19, 2008

| Original Score: B- | Oct 18, 2008

Exquisitely photographed but emotionally overwrought and ultimately tedious.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 18, 2008

| Original Score: B | Oct 18, 2008

Here is a movie that the late Ismail Merchant would have been happy to have under the Merchant-Ivory banner. James Ivory is very much alive and working, and one assumes he approves as well.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 18, 2008

An unremarkable story beautifully told, and should appeal to the legion of Merchant Ivory fans out there.

| Oct 18, 2008

It's definitely good, definitely a little bit boring.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 18, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 18, 2008

One of the most ravishing and breathtakingly beautiful films to come around in a long time.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 1, 2008

...fails to deliver on the potentially intriguing premise of an interracial romance set in India in 1937, against the backdrop of the Indian independence movement

| Original Score: 5/10 | Sep 19, 2008

The movie has enough fine acting -- especially by Bose and by Jennifer Ehle as the planter's deceived wife -- and beautiful, razor-sharp cinematography (also by Sivan) to recommend it.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 7, 2008