Like the Painted Veil?

It is similar to The Painted Vail in its time period and its spectacular Asian mountain scenery (China and India), as well as its questions about the repercussions of colonialism for both the natives and well-meaning but sometimes clueless late-model European transplants. I felt Before the Rains was a little more honest and direct on that count. It doesn't give you a nice transformation to cling to the way the Naomi Watts character's story line does in PV. The moral center of BtR is an Indian man, while in PV it's a British couple.

I thought "The Painted Veil" was not very good, but this was excellent. It was a tragedy and very good at showing how we contribute to our own tragedies. This movie blew me away.

I haven't seen the Painted Veil, but I strongly urge you to see this movie. It is powerful.

I also thought TPV superior, mostly on account of it's acting and script. BTW had an interesting story concept and was very well paced, but the acting of Roache and Das was patchy at best (his line delivery was pretty bad, and she seemed like she'd escaped from a school theatre production). I also felt the script was a trifle novelettish, particularly during confrontational scenes. Another drawback was the crudely drawn secondary characters, especially Das' character's husband. Every other part of the film was good, Ehle's performance being a particular highlight. But not even she could match up to Norton's tour de force in TPV.

Somerset Maugham always wrote books criticizing white colonialism. It is a underlying theme in most of his short stories and books. In that point alone is the Painted Vail similar.
First I want to say the original PV was twenty times better then the remake. That being said. Other then the locality and the critical view of white colonialism even though the criticism is about different matters the movies are not similar at all.