Critic Reviews

• Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

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

• Philip Marchand, Toronto Star

  India has rarely looked so beautiful onscreen. Against the anguish of his human characters, director Santosh Sivan juxtaposes a tranquil, green world in the hills of the southwestern state of Keralain 1937, 10 years before independence.

• Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

  When the rains in Before the Rains finally arrive, there's nothing to cleanse, no real dirt to wash away -- not with history already so neatly packaged and polished to a dull shine.

• John Hartl, Seattle Times

  It might have been more convincing if it had emphasized personalities rather than types.

• Loren Lankford, Entertainment Weekly

  Unfortunately, the parade of consequences brought on by the affair has little emotional substance.

• J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

  Producer Ismail Merchant died in 2005, but Merchant Ivory's stuffy tradition of quality lives on.

• Kelly Vance, East Bay Express

  If only the whole thing weren't so pretty.

• Nick Schager, House Next Door

  Mechanical through and through.

• Nick Dent, Time Out Sydney

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

• Rhiannon Sawyer, FILMINK (Australia)

  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.

• Louise Keller, Urban Cinefile

  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

• Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle

  Exquisitely photographed but emotionally overwrought and ultimately tedious.

• Tim Cogshell, Boxoffice Magazine

  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.

• Jean Lowerison, San Diego Metropolitan

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

• Pete Hammond, Hollywood.com

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

• Sarah Boslaugh, Playback:stl

  ...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

• Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review

  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.

• Anthony Quinn, Independent

  Acting honours go to Bose, his face an eloquently shifting register of shame, calculation and sympathy.

• , Sun Online

  Feels as though it should be a compelling drama, yet it somehow simmers along rather frustratingly with only a couple of moments of genuine tension.

• Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph

  The movie is prettily done in a fairly obvious way, but there's little insight into the emerging nationalist movement, which remains at best a shimmering backdrop in soft focus.

Read all 25 critic reviews