Synopsis
Set in southern India in the late 1930s, this provocative tale traces the story of three people caught in an inexorable web of forbidden romance and dangerous secrets. After a British spice planter falls in love with his alluring servant, an idealistic young man finds himself torn between his ambitions and his family, his village and his past.
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Cast
- Linus RoacheHenry Moores
- Nandita DasSajaani
- Rahul BoseT. K. Neelan
- Jennifer EhleLaura Moores
- Indrajith SukumaranManas
- LalRajat
- ThilakanT.K.'s father
- Ganapathi S Poduval
Recommandations
- 70
The New York Times
Fatal culture clash, imperialist entitlement, forbidden passion between master and servant: the ingredients of the Indian director Santosh Sivan’s period piece Before the Rains may be awfully familiar, but the film lends them the force of tragedy. - 63
Chicago Sun-Times
Tells the kind of story that would feel right at home in a silent film, and I suppose I mean that as a compliment. - 63
Philadelphia Inquirer
As scripted by Cathy Rabin and directed by Santosh Sivan, Before the Rains is never less than compelling, but never more than adequately realized. - 63
TV Guide Magazine
Sivan's film is well acted, beautifully photographed and oddly reassuring. It comes perilously close to suggesting that the injustices of colonial rule were the product of morally weak and misguided individuals rather than a system that empowered and enriched foreign interests at the expense of locals. - 50
Chicago Reader
Producer Ismail Merchant died in 2005, but Merchant Ivory's stuffy tradition of quality lives on. - 50
Chicago Tribune
It's more that the plot is incredibly predictable, the score is manipulative and the denouement completely unsatisfying. I can sit through cliched and even offensive (to a point). Just leave me with a little bit of mystery, an iota of suspense. That’s all I ask. - 50
New York Post
Pity that the direction and narrative lack passion. If there's anything a story of interracial adultery needs, it's passion. - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
The film's chief asset is its superbly atmospheric evocation of its period milieu.