Heart of a Dog (1988) (TV) Sobachye serdtse (original title)

Director:

Vladimir Bortko

Writers:

Natalya Bortko
Mikhail A. Bulgakov (story)

Release Date:

23 August 1991 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Old Prof. Preobrazhensky and his young colleague Dr. Bormental inserted the human's hypophysis into a dog's brain...

Plot Keywords:

Animal In Title | Surrealism | Farce

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Evgeni Evstigneev	...	Professor Filipp Filippovich Preobrazhensky
Vladimir Tolokonnikov	...	Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov
Boris Plotnikov	...	Dr. Bormenthal
Roman Kartsev	...	Schwonder
Nina Ruslanova	...	Darya Petrovna
Yevgeni Kuznetsov
Olga Melikhova	...	Zinochka
Aleksei Mironov	...	Fyodor
Anzhelika Nevolina
Natalya Fomenko
Ivan Ganzha
Valentina Kovel
Sergei Filippov
Roman Tkachuk
Natalya Lapina

Directed by
Vladimir Bortko

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Natalya Bortko
Mikhail A. Bulgakov		story

Original Music by
Vladimir Dashkevich

Cinematography by
Yuri Shajgardanov

Film Editing by
Leda Semyonova

Production Design by
Vladimir Svetozarov

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Vladislav Nekrasov	....	second assistant director
Yuri Vertlib	....	first assistant director

Sound Department
Garri Belenky	....	sound

Stunts
Sergey Golovkin	....	stunts (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Lenfilm Studio

Also Known As:

"Sobachye serdtse" - Soviet Union (original title)

Runtime:

136 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Lenfilm Studio

Movie Connections:

Version of Dog's Heart (1976)

Great food for thought. Still tasty:)

Having first watched the movie at 14, I remember being struck by hearing the word 'govno' (sh*t) for the first time ever on the then-still-Soviet TV (I bet it really was *the* first time in history — anyone wants to add this to trivia section?:)... What an open boldness and freedom, I thought! As years passed, I was more and more impressed with the movie and the incredible acting, but my feelings turned to a kind of mixture of enjoyment from a genuine piece of cinematographic art and a bitter realization of a concept diametrically opposite to my 14-y.o. impression: helplessness. There's an air of inevitable catastrophe looming throughout the movie, of primitive degenerate tide (embodied by Sharikov) sweeping the lives of the finest minds advancing humanity in their areas... It's a great metaphor of Russian revolution in general, inspired by intellectuals ashamed of their superiority and hoping to 'upgrade' the lower classes, only to unleash the power of mediocrity and get swallowed by it... An extremely fine and talented piece, wrapping a truly sad idea in a brilliantly satiric and elegant form. Symbolically enough, the movie itself marked the end of the Soviet movie traditions era before the Hollywood tsunami had knocked them over — for good, it seems, judging by most current Russian movies (most of them labeled 'blockbusters' in prerelease!!! trailers and posters:).

Funnily, that 'govno' episode is in no contradiction to Efenstor's comment above re rude language of current generation... From what I've already said it could seem that this might be the movie that showed the way for this, but it was not. A mild word by current standards, it was way too rude back then, and just rude enough to show the true nature of all Sharikovs... BTW, re Efenstor's lament, it is sooo naive to juxtapose being intellectual and using rude lexicon, especially for Russian speakers, where a single cussword could have meanings that take sentences in translation! But I join in regret that ALL the meaning in today's teenager's talk may be expressed by cusswords. I feel that this is the bigger problem than their choice of the medium that's most efficient for the task:) Well, this movie and the book are great food for thought that might change them, or anyone who might have a luxury of watching it.