Michelle and Marie (Laurence Dubas and Christiane Coppe) escape from a mental institution. While Michelle is strong and determined to get away, Marie is more emotional and grows very attached to Michelle.
Their journey leads them to a traveling troupe of performance artists (aka: strippers). When they join the group, Michelle desires thrills, excitement, and male companionship. Poor Marie only wants to be with Michelle. Forever.
When the pair hook up with a thief named Sophie (Marianne Valiot), they seem to have found peace at last. Alas, Marie's true insanity comes into play.
This is another adult fantasy film from Director Jean Rollin. Filled with odd characters and bizarre situations, THE ESCAPEES is, at its heart, a love story. There's far less nudity -at least until the finale- than in most Rollin projects. The plot is also more straightforward, less surreal.
Rollin drastically retrains his penchant for absurdity here! This does allow for some stretches of dullness, including the long-long-LONG goodbye sequence near the end! Fortunately, Marie's anthropophobia saves the day!
The denouement is pure, bloody Rollin...