The man who lights the ladies

Cinematographers are rarely known outside the movie industry; theirs is a largely thankless task, but it's one that actors and directors know they are dependent on to make both breeds look good.

But this week Spanish cinema paid homage to one of its great unsung heroes: on Tuesday, the Academy of Cinema awarded José Luis Alcaine its Gold Medal for his work on 125 movies over the last half century.

Alcaine's subtle use of light has been sought by Pedro Almodóvar, Fernando Trueba, Adolfo Aristaráin, Bigas Luna, Vicente Aranda and Fernando Colomo, to name but a few of the country's top directors. His most recent work can be seen in Almodóvar's latest movie, The Skin I Live In.

Handing over the award, Academy President Enrique González Macho highlighted Alcaine's sensitivity to the needs of the directors and actors with whom he works, "without losing a gram of your own personality."

"I have made a lot of films over the last half century, and I have learnt something ? even from the bad ones," joked Alcaine as he accepted the award. "I have worked with a lot of very special people, and learned that we are all connected in some way. This has been a wonderful career for me," he added.

Talking to journalists after the ceremony, Alcaine discussed his latest work with Pedro Almodóvar, with whom he has had a professional relationship since 1988's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. "We have had our arguments over the years," he says, with discretion. The two fell out during the filming of Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! two years after Women on the Verge... and didn't work together until Bad Education, which was released in 2004.

"We tend not to talk much on set, which helps our relationship. He doesn't usually have much of an idea of what he wants in terms of cinematography, but he does know what he doesn't want. I remember that we had long talks during the making of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, because he wanted a 1950s kind of light, the kind that Douglas Sirk used, very Hollywood, and very different from the kind that was in fashion at the time. In Bad Education I changed the lighting to something more in tune with a thriller; I think you could say that there has been a change of look in Pedro's films over the years, with more grey and blue. The Skin I Live In is a great film," he insists. "I think a lot of people will be surprised by it; it marks a turning point in his career."

Alcaine has earned a reputation as the man directors call when they want their leading lady to look her best. "They know that I am going to make them look good, and the public still wants to see a beautiful film star look beautiful on the big screen. In Volver, the whole thing was about Penélope Cruz; we wanted a Sofia Loren look, kind of 1960s, and the two elements came together in The Skin I Live In. Elena Anaya looks absolutely gorgeous."

He's worked with most of Spain's top female actors over the years: Carmen Maura, Maribel Verdú, Marisa Paredes, and of course Victoria Abril. "She was one of the few to complain about my work. She is an actor who always likes to see the rushes. And she is often right about lighting, I have to say. In general though, it is actresses who say that they want to work with me."

In recent years, Alcaine has managed to find time to research Picasso's Guernica, which he believes was inspired by the 1933 film version of A Farewell to Arms, directed by Frank Borzage and based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway.

In a recent article published in the industry magazine Cameraman, Alcaine reveals the details of his months of study.

"I had seen A Farewell to Arms at the end of the 1970s. But it was years later, when I saw it again on video at home, that I actually jumped up during the road scene and shouted, 'It's Guernica'!"

The black-and-white sequence in question shows soldiers and civilians fleeing by night along a road under bombardment by planes. Alcaine points to three images that connect the painting to the film: a dying person's white, thick-fingered hand, the runaway horses, and a woman with her arms raised up to the skies.

"I started to think about it then in 2006. In 2007, I shot five movies and had to put the idea aside. I didn't have time for anything. But since then, I have only worked on Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In, so I found some time to examine the sequence still by still, and to study it," says Alcaine. Along with the white hand and the woman imploring the skies, Alcaine points to an empty doorframe, a baby carriage full of white geese, horses' hooves, a mother clutching her child, a man lying in the mud with an outstretched arm, and flames licking from the left corner of the frame.

This fragmented and violent image mirrors Guernica's collage of figures ? "A collage that has a lot of film editing in it, with different shots and close-ups," Alcaine says, adding with self-deprecating humor the Italian saying: "Se non è vero, é ben trovato." If it's not true, at least it's a good story.