When blues musician Gaye Adegbalola bursts onto the screen at the start of 'Hot Flash' singing about her silver beaver you know she's not referring to a rodent.

The grey-haired, mohicaned former teacher is one of the three remarkable women who make up Saffire — the Uppity Blues Women. And none of them are afraid to talk dirty or tell it like it is whether onstage or off.

On paper, Saffire sound like a novelty act whose quirky appeal would quickly wear off for any truly discerning music fan.

An act made up of three menopausal women singing songs with titles like Middle Aged Blues Boogie and Bitch With A Bad Attitude hardly sounds like the stuff of which great gigs are made.

But in fact, as director Sarah Knight's film lovingly portrays, Saffire do more than just play fantastic live sets — the multi-racial group tear up the stage and give hope to any would-be musician who longs for a life on the road but fears they are past their prime.

This inspiring documentary recounts how Adegbalola and bandmate Ann Rabson didn't start gigging together until their 40s, landing a record deal when most people are starting to plan their pension.

Interviews with the pair and Andra Faye, who joined when the original third Saffire member left the band, are funny, ribald and at times tear-jerking.

Cancer survivor and mother-of-one Adegbalola talks touchingly of how she finally found love with her lesbian partner after decades of hiding her sexuality, recalling how Rabson told her: "Closets are for clothes."

She tells another story about how she grew up hating white people but came to realise "you just have to come to people with a pure heart" thanks to her young son's friendship with a white boy. The anecdote brought a painful lump to my throat.

Rabson is perhaps the least likely looking blues musician I have ever seen — a larger-than-life lady who plays boogie woogie piano with passion and real skill.

She and her bandmates will blow away any preconceived ideas you might have about who can play the blues.

'Portraits of a Lady' is a very different film to Hot Flash — but no less inspiring.

The movie documents how 25 artists were commissioned to paint retiring US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a woman instantly recognisable to all Americans, apparently, but unknown to me.

The subject matter sounds pretty tame but what transpires is a lovely, gentle film about portraiture, art and politicians.

Day O'Connor proves a fascinating — and very talkative — model when she sits for The Painting Group, a collection of amateur and professional artists who meet once a week in a New York studio.

Her commentary as we watch the 25 artists create their images of the first woman ever to sit on the United Supreme Court is hugely entertaining.

Their task is to try to capture the essence of Day O'Connor — and the film takes an insightful look at how portraitists have done this with public figures over the centuries.

The Painting Group founders caricaturist David Levine and painter Aaron Shikler make excellent interviewees too — recounting how the group was formed 50 years ago and describing their own very different careers as artists.

The final scenes reveal how the artists have captured Day O'Connor on canvas and in sculpture — and her reaction when the pieces are exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.

One thing is abundantly clear — the First Lady of Law has not a shred of vanity.

** This documentary double bill will screen tonight at 6.30 p.m. at Little Theatre and Saturday at 3.45 p.m. at Liberty Theatre.