Though the names may have been changed, the 2008 film An American Affair is clearly based on the true story of Mary Pinchot Meyer.

In the early 60s, Mary Pinchot Meyer was a celebrated member of the Washington D.C. social scene.  A talented painter, Meyer was also the ex-wife of CIA officer Cord Meyer and was an early proponent of LSD.  She also happened to the mistress of John F. Kennedy and reportedly use to smoke weed with him in the Oval Office.  It’s also been reported that she kept a diary, which mysteriously disappeared after Mary’s still unsolved murder in 1964.  Needless to say, many a JFK assassination conspiracy theory has featured Mary Pinchot Meyer as a supporting character.

In An American Affair, Meyer is renamed Catherine Caswell (Gretchen Mol) and she lives across the street from 13 year-old Adam Stafford (Cameron Bright).  While Catherine has secret meetings with the President and deals with her alcoholic ex-husband (played, quite well, by Mark Pellegrino), Adam watches from his bedroom window.  Eventually, Adam goes across the street and offers to work in Catherine’s garden.  Realizing that Adam has a crush on her, an amused Catherine agrees.  While the future of America is being determined all around him, Adam learns about life, love, and art from Catherine.

An American Affair is an odd mix of conspiracy film and coming-of-age dramedy but it actually work pretty well.  Gretchen Mol gives a good performance as the poignantly unstable Catherine and, despite the fact that Adam is kind of a creep at times, Cameron Bright manages to make the character sympathetic.  However, the film’s best performances come from James Rebhorn and Pellegrino, playing two menacing figures who always seem to hovering in the shadows.

An American Affair is a surprisingly good film.  I saw it on Netflix and so should you.