That’s what I thought – he’s audibly been dubbed, but so has Ustinov who spoke French fluently; at the same time the lip-sync is very good (unlike for Brandauer who looks like a porno actor). Clearly Sam Neill has layers...
If he does speak French, why did they dub over him? I suppose if he speaks it with a strong accent then I could see why, but then again, if he can't speak French or can only speak it with an accent, it begs the question of why they put him in the movie in the first place.
"To punish the oppressors of humanity is clemency. To forgive them is cruelty." -Robespierre
I guess there's a difference between speaking very good French as a foreigner and speaking like a native. I have a feeling that some of the international cast were chosen for financial reasons