Linus Roache (L) and Nandita Das (R) in Before The Rains (Alphonse Roy / Roadside Attractions)

The kind of story that "Before the Rains" tells would feel right at home in a silent film, and I suppose I mean that as a compliment. It's a melodrama about adultery, set against the backdrop of southern India in 1937. There's something a little creaky about the production, especially in its frequent use of large crowds of torch-bearing men who can be summoned in an instant at any hour of day or night to blaze a trail, search for a missing woman, or crowd in front of the house of a possibly guilty man.

The film is driven by lust, guilt and shame of a melodramatic sort that was right at home in the silent era. That doesn't mean it's old-fashioned, but that it's broadly melodramatic. It centers on the lives of a British landowner in India, his Indian right-hand man, and the landowner's affair with his beautiful young servant woman. Both he and the servant are married, so there are problems in addition to the taboo against mixing the races and classes.

The man is Henry Moores (Linus Roache), who lives in a big, comfortable house with his wife, Laura (Jennifer Ehle), and young son, Peter (Leo Benedict).

Next door lives his assistant, T.K. (Rahul Bose), who has abandoned his roots in the nearby village and cast his lot with the British.

Henry and his servant Sajani (Nandita Das) are seen alone in a "sacred grove" by two talkative young boys and that leads, as it must, to tragedy.

"Before the Rains" is lushly photographed, and told sincerely and with energy. I found it refreshing to see a one-level story told with passion and romanticism.

But I can't quite recommend it. In a plot depending on concealment and secrecy, Henry and T.K. make all the wrong decisions.

- Roger Ebert / Universal Press Syndicate