This initially comes off a bit like Fargo – i.e., a crime film featuring a dorky, unassuming cop (Pierre-François Legendre) and a bunch of homely small-town folks – with a touch of Vertigo thrown in, what with said cop being afflicted with aquaphobia (as opposed to acrophobia in the Hitchcock film). The early scenes depicting the aftermath of the murder of a young woman (Stéphanie Lapointe) and the beginning of the police investigation are intriguing enough, plus the Îles de la Madeleine locations are gorgeously shot, but La Peur de l’eau is soon marred by some clumsy tonal shifts, a lack of urgency and an increasingly preposterous plot, not to mention uneven performances from the supporting cast (including Brigitte Pogonat, Normand D’Amour and Pascale Bussières).