Perhaps he looks more like Gandalf now, in his 70s, with a kind of beatific grandfatherly calm. But legendary cinematographer Robert Richardson – three time Oscar winner for JFK, The Aviator and Hugo – got his “white devil” nickname when his long white hair was a little less unruly than it is now, and more of a sensual accessory for a fiercely passionate, handsome and commanding man who conducted tempestuous working relationships like love affairs with A-list male directors including Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.

This documentary takes us through his intensely creative, semi-crazed process on films such as Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July and JFK for Stone; Hugo and The Aviator for Scorsese; and Kill Bill and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for Tarantino. And all the time his wives and children, left at home for months at a time while he was out on location, might have wondered what their dad was doing.

This film is sometimes a little frustrating in what it can’t show – yet often amazing in what it does – and also tells the story of Czech film student Jana Hojdová who wanted merely to write her thesis on Richardson, wrote to him and was astonished when he wrote back personally, generously shared with her his diaries, notes and research materials and gave hours and hours of interviews during Covid. She has now directed this absorbing, intimate documentary in which Scorsese, Tarantino and Stone are interviewed along with Richardson’s partners and children.

There is a real and painful story to tell. Richardson fell out with his brother; this estrangement occurred after this brother’s child died and Richardson never attended the funeral, perhaps afraid of being sucked into the vortex of his brother’s heartbreak, and in any case very focused on his career. Richardson also compulsively videoed everything going on at home; there is amusing footage of his daughter telling him off for not being in the moment. The most staggering home movie footage, in vivid 4K clarity, shows Richardson’s just-deceased mother being lifted off her deathbed by medical staff; it is a shocking, upsetting moment – perhaps almost too unbalancingly shocking and upsetting considering how relatively little is said about his mother elsewhere in the film. (Though one of his Oscar acceptance speeches was dedicated to her.) It is a remarkable moment in its way.

Richardson fell out with Stone when he decided to work with Scorsese, fell out with Tarantino over a particular shot on Kill Bill, but fell back in with him. What can these macho head-butting quarrels have looked like? They can’t be shown here, and perhaps like sausages (or laws) being made, director-cinematographer rows are something it’s best not to see. This reverent, clear-eyed documentary is a cinephile treat.

• Robert Richardson: The White Devil screened at the Karlovy Vary film festival.