Anne Hathaway, Dame Maggie Smith and Julie Walters star in this period romantic drama and biographical portrait of the young Jane Austen, and the love affair Austen began as a 20-year-old with brilliant, roguish Irishman Tom Lefroy, that inspired her career as one of the world's great romantic writers.Synopsis - Emma (1996) Set in the lush English countryside in the early part of the 19th Century, Emma tells the funny and timeless tale of a young woman so devoted to meddling in the lives and romances of others, that she may miss her chance to learn about love firsthand. Featuring a cast of characters true to the very best tradition of sophisticated English comedy, this adaptation of the beloved Jane Austen novel is a story about the lessons of life that rings as true today as it did in Austen's time.