Heart of a Dog

Heart of a Dog reimagines Bulgakov's satirical tale against the backdrop of 1920s Moscow, balancing wit with a sly critique of a society in flux. A celebrated professor performs a radical operation on a stray dog named Sharik, hoping to graft human traits onto the animal and observe the result. The procedure yields a crude, quick witted man who must learn language, appetite, and the awkward realities of a world remade by ideology. As Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov moves through offices, apartments, and the early days of Soviet rule, the line between benevolent science and reckless ambition grows dangerously thin. The film uses dark humor to interrogate power, class, and the unpredictable consequences of rapid social change, without tipping into sentimentality.

Directed by Vladimir Bortko in 1988, Heart of a Dog is a Soviet adaptation of Bulgakov's novella. The screenplay blends Bulgakov's sharp satire with the filmmakers own sensibility, drawing on Nataliya Bortko and Yuli Kim's contributions to the material carefully.

Box office data for Heart of a Dog is not widely documented, and the film is discussed more for its artistic achievement internationally than as a commercial hit. Its reputation rests on craft and ideas rather than box office numbers.

Its blend of drama, comedy, and speculative fiction has earned the film a place in discussions of Soviet cinema as a pointed social allegory. Shifts in class and power on screen mirror a society grappling with rapid modernization and the clash between old and new norms today for many viewers.

Critics have highlighted the performances of Evgeniy Evstigneev, Boris Plotnikov and Vladimir Tolokonnikov, giving life to professors and the transformed Sharikov. The film probes ethical questions about science and state power, while underscoring the fragility of identity under ideological pressure, a point still resonant for many viewers today globally too.