With the highly attractive and skillful actress Gretchen Mol in the role of Catherine, the woman next door, and Cameron Bright appealing as Adam, the lad in over his depth, the film, however far-fetched it might seem, is enjoyable, especially since director William Sten Olsson knows what he is doing. Having grown up in Sweden, he has been inspired by European directors who manage to create a tone that can be more subtle than the way in which an American director might approach such a yarn.

“An American Affair” is sexy at times, but it also explores the relative innocence of youth dealing with their desires. In the screenplay by Alex Metcalf, Adam attends a Catholic school, where he and male students engage in fisticuffs over insults and rivalries, the boys and girls play spin the bottle, tongue-kissing is an adventure and the nuns rule sternly. Adam’s home life shows him with his mom and dad (Perrey Reeves and Noah Wyle), who are absorbed in their own lives as writers and are clumsy dealing with their rebellious teenager.

In the conspiratorial corner is a top CIA operative well-played with calculated coldness by James Rebhorn. Mark Pellegrino plays Catherine’s drunken ex-husband, Graham, who wants her back and has a CIA involvement. One may question credibility and point to lines inconsistent with the time, but on the other hand, the imagination of the filmmakers is what makes this work entertaining and can also bring a chill with what it is suggesting.