Filmmaker James Gray told a London Film Festival audience this morning during a career Q&A that he believes Two Lovers, his fourth feature, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow, was the first time he successfully executed his artistic vision as a director.

“This movie was very important to me. It was the first time I had creative control. The work took on another character,” Gray said after the LFF crowd was shown a clip from the 2008 film.

“I don’t regard the films I made before this very highly. I hope people like them, but I don’t think of them as truly mine. I was still trying to do something. Two Lovers was the first film that felt like who I was trying to be, if that makes sense, because I had total freedom.”

Gray added that Two Lovers was a relatively “cheap movie,” costing around $9.5 million.

“I was left alone. The actors were great. I made exactly what I wanted,” he said. “I don’t know if the film is great, good, or terrible, but my emotional connection to it is profound because it was a beautiful time in my life.”

Directed by Gray from a screenplay he co-wrote with Ric Menello, Two Lovers tells the story of Leonard (Phoenix), an aspiring photographer and introvert who has moved back into his parents’ home following a recent heartbreak. His concerned parents try to set him up with Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), the daughter of a family friend. But Leonard meets Michelle (Paltrow), the beautiful but volatile mistress of a wealthy married man who has recently moved into an apartment in his family’s building. He becomes caught between the two women.

Gray is at the LFF with his latest feature, Paper Tiger. The film screened last night in London.

Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller star in the pic set in 1986 Queens, NY, in which two brothers become entangled in a scheme that ends up involving the Russian mafia, putting their family at risk. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Neon will release the film theatrically on November 13.

The LFF runs until October 18.