Directed by: Jean Rollin
Stars: Laurence Dubas, Christiane Coppé, Marianne Valiot, Brigitte Lahaie, Louise Dhour, Pascale Vital, Patricia Mercurol, Natalie Perrey, Patrick Perrot, Jean-Loup Philippe
Language: French | Subtitles: English
Country: France | Imdb Info

Also known as: Les Paumées du petit matin, Les Échappées, Fuges mineures, The Runaways

Description: Two young women escape from the suffocating confines of a psychiatric institution and embark on a strange journey through the forgotten corners of France. Michèle is rebellious and determined to regain her freedom, while the withdrawn Marie seems almost incapable of responding to the world around her.

After fleeing the mental asylum, the unlikely companions discover temporary refuge among a traveling troupe of exotic dancers. Their unfamiliar surroundings offer a glimpse of freedom, but a police raid forces them back onto the road, where danger seems to follow every encounter.

Their wandering brings them into contact with Sophie, a resourceful young criminal, an aging fortune-teller, and an assortment of eccentric strangers. From deserted streets to atmospheric nightclubs and lonely waterfronts, the women’s unpredictable escape becomes an increasingly surreal adventure.

An unexpected moment of beauty emerges when Marie discovers an empty ice rink, where movement and music briefly awaken emotions she has struggled to express. Yet the fragile happiness of their friendship is repeatedly threatened, especially when they encounter a group of wealthy pleasure-seekers whose hospitality conceals sinister intentions.

The Escapees is a haunting mixture of road movie, erotic drama, psychological melancholy, and sudden violence. Its dreamlike atmosphere, unusual characters, and unpredictable journey create a deeply personal portrait of two women searching for freedom in an indifferent and frequently hostile world.

Legacy Note: Written and directed by Jean Rollin, The Escapees represents an unusual departure from the filmmaker’s celebrated vampire mythology. Although largely abandoning supernatural horror, the film retains his fascination with isolated women, poetic landscapes, mysterious encounters, and the fragile boundary between innocence and danger.

Laurence Dubas and Christiane Coppé deliver contrasting performances as Michèle and Marie, while Marianne Valiot brings energy to the enigmatic Sophie. Louise Dhour appears as the fortune-teller, and Brigitte Lahaie contributes to the film’s more sinister encounters. Rollin’s fascination with women wandering through hostile landscapes can also be seen in Requiem for a Vampire (1971).

The film’s oppressive institutional atmosphere and psychological vulnerability recall Rollin’s Night of the Hunted (1980), also featuring Brigitte Lahaie. For another example of his hypnotic imagery and dangerous female characters, explore Fascination (1979).

Melancholic, provocative, and visually poetic, The Escapees aka Runaways remains one of Jean Rollin’s most unconventional films—a haunting journey through surrealism, friendship, exploitation, and desperate freedom, where moments of extraordinary beauty exist alongside the darkest aspects of human behavior.