In our portrait film, James Gray describes imbibing the writings of Fyodor Dostoevsky from early childhood. The influence is particularly strong in Two Lovers, a reworking of the iconic story "White Nights" (1848) that also incorporates elements from "Notes from Underground" (1864). Like Dostoevsky's Underground Man, the protagonist seems to have psychically merged with the constrained space he inhabits to such a degree that travel from his home in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, to Lincoln Center in Manhattan feels like a journey to another world. Gray depicts his interior transformation through rich chiaroscuro, elegant mise-en-scène, comic irony, and a singular approach to Italian opera.