The Escapees (1981)

On the run from an asylum for the insane, a feisty young girl and a forlorn female companion embark on a surreal journey with a group of traveling erotic dancers. Wandering from the fantastic to the farcical and back again,

Director:

Jean Rollin

Writers:

Jacques Ralf (dialogue), Jean Rollin

Stars:

Laurence Dubas, Christiane Coppé, Marianne Valiot

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Laurence Dubas	...	Michelle
Christiane Coppé	...	Marie
Marianne Valiot	...	Sophie (as Marianne Valio)
Patrick Perrot	...	Pierrot
Louise Dhour	...	Mme Louise
Jean-Louis Fortuit
Jean Hérel
Claude Lévèque
Patricia Mercurol
Brigitte Lahaie	...	Femme couple bourgeois
Céline Royce
Jean Philippe Delamarre
Bernard Papineau
Natalie Perrey
Pearl June

Storyline

Michelle, a troubled teenager, has been returned to an mental asylum run by nuns after escaping and is put in a straitjacket and then locked in a room. She manages to get the attention of a new patient, Marie, a quiet girl who just seems to sit in the garden in a rocking chair. Marie helps Michelle by removing her straitjacket, and the pair run off together. At first, Michelle wants to leave on her own, but Marie wants to go with her and the two form a tenuous friendship. They follow a group of burlesque dancers who they encounter in an old scrapyard as they roam the countryside. They befriend a thief named Sophie, who helps them escape when the burlesque show is busted. Ending up in a shipyard, they connect with bar owner Madame Louise, who takes in runaways. Sophie convinces her sailor boyfriend to not only stow her away for the next voyage, but the other two as well. Marie and Michelle later meet two men and two women at Louise's, who take them away to a mansion and try to rape ...

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Plot Keywords:

female frontal nudity | murder | insanity | ice skating | thief | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Also Known As:

The Escapees

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films ABC, Impex Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Christiane Coppé was discovered by Jean Rollin through a bunch of photos in an office. Moreover, Coppe was specifically cast as Marie because she was a professional ice skater and hence could easily pull off the ice skating scene.

User Reviews

The sun, the light, Marie

Marie and Michelle are escaping from a lunatic asylum. Michelle is a tough girl who knows how to survive on the road, but the extremely shy Marie desperately clings to her until Michelle gives in and promises help. The two get into a lot of trouble which puts their friendship to a test.

Rollin's lost movie, and lost for a good reason, as the director told in several interviews (one on the British DVD, for example): it was simply so poor no distributor bought it. The director blames this mostly on the scriptwriter. The producer had hired someone to keep the director from continuing with his usual vampire mystery stuff, and that kind of co-operation against each other couldn't work. However, "The Escapees" has enough magic moments to be worth watching. Especially when people stop talking such as in the ending, or when Marie skates on the ice, imagining she is admired by a crowd, but only Michelle is secretly watching her.