Heart of a Dog, by Christie Gibbons, page 4

Yet, when Sharikov espouses human-like tendencies, such as calling Philip Philipovich Dad or comrade, he is reprimanded by the professor. This is in keeping with the idea presented at the beginning of the film, in which the professor is the master, and now creator, of the subordinate Sharikov. This idea is also shown when Bormenthal commands that Sharikov addresses him by first name and patronymic. Sharikov then justly asks for them to address him by first name and patronymic, but they vehemently decline, showing their superiority over this lesser mutt-of-a-man. Philip Philipovich later says to Sharikov: “You are a creature just in the process of formation, with a feeble intellect. All your actions are the actions of an animal. Yet you permit yourself to speak with utterly insufferable impudence in the presence of two people with a university education…” Such an attitude of dominance is further shown in the way that Bortko has chosen to present Sharikov within the frames of the film itself. Sharikov is usually framed with others as the lesser of the two. He often is filmed off to the side, and lower than the others within the frame.

Professor Preobrazhensky and Bormenthal, the two who are mainly presented as being in a superior position over Sharikov, are not as stable as they let on about this entire experiment. When they are alone, discussing the outcome of their turning Sharik, the dog, into Sharikov, the man, their inner fears are made known. The professor worries: “We’ll never get away with it, even if it is our first offense.” He later rejects the conclusions of Sharikov’s case, saying: “The human race takes care of itself, and every year, in the course of its evolution, it creates dozens of outstanding geniuses who adorn the earth, stubbornly selecting them out of the mass of scum.” In other words, he realizes that his experiment is, essentially, no new thing, as new humans are naturally made all the time, year after year, by men and women. The professor and Bormenthal have merely recreated Klim Chugunkin, the vulgar man with two arrests and severe alcoholism.

When Bormenthal offers to kill the now vulgar Sharikov, the professor advises him not to do any such thing, saying: “Never attempt a crime, no matter against whom it might be directed. You must reach old age with clean hands.” The interesting thing about this comment is that Philip Philipovich, an old man himself, is implying that what he and Bormenthal have done, turning Sharik, the dog, into Sharikov, the man, and continuing to treat him like a dog, is not a crime. If it is not a crime, why do they continually keep it all under cover, living in fear of being caught by the authorities? The real question, especially with all the technological and scientific advancements of today, is: how far can humans go transforming nature before their hands become unclean?

Perhaps, for Philip Philipovich, it is not really so much a matter of retaining clean hands so much as it is a matter of not hurrying. Near the beginning of the film, he offers an old Russian adage: “He who doesn’t hurry manages to get everywhere.” This could be his justification of what they have done to Sharik, the dog, his way of consoling their anxious spirits with the fact that they have done their experiment without haste, and therefore are in control of all of its aspects, even the latest, terrifying, outcome. In his mind, due to their intentional slowness of work, they have managed to cover all the bases. Thus, they, like super-humans, can truly geteverywhere.

Despite such confidence in his ability to get everywhere, at the end of the film, Philip Philipovich inevitably comes to terms with the fact that this experiment has, in fact, gone beyond his, or anyone’s, control. Sharikov leaves the apartment every day, as he has found work as a stray cat catcher. The cats are turned in, skinned, and made into fur coats, a job he takes great delight in as an ex-dog. The problem with him being out on the street so frequently is that he comes home drunk, steals, and is potentially harmful to the defenseless women, mainly the dainty Zina and the very same petite, young typist from the beginning of the film, whom Sharikov has now brought to the professor’s apartment to live with him. So, Professor Preobrazhensky and Bormenthal decide it would be best to reverse the experiment, turning Sharikov back into a dog. This is exactly what they do.

After another lengthy experiment, Sharikov slowly reverts back into being a dog. He gradually loses his ability to speak and to walk, while regaining his natural dog physique: small and hairy. The atmosphere in the apartment changes drastically, going from almost continuously chaotic to frighteningly quiet.

This new silence is suddenly disturbed when a crowd of people, including a criminal investigating officer, two men in uniforms, the house committee members, the doorman, and others, enters the professor’s apartment. They have a warrant to search the apartment and to arrest Philip Philipovich, Bormenthal, Zina, and Darya, depending upon the results of their search.  The crowd suspects them of murdering Sharikov. But the crowd’s suspicion soon vanishes when Bormenthal whistles for Sharik to come out from the office. When he does, as a half-bald dog, who walks on his hind legs and speaks less and less, the crowd is astonished and the criminal investigator even faints. This scene ends with the crowd exiting the apartment and Professor Preobrazhensky entering his office, and closing both doors behind him.

Bortko then cuts to the end shots, which are similar to those at the beginning of his film. They are sepia tone shots of trolleys and automobiles going to and fro on a main  street in Soviet Moscow, yet now the snow is melted and there are puddles everywhere. The same group of military men marches down the street singing, their boots splashing through a large puddle. The ringing of the trolley bells are heard repeatedly in the background.

The film ends with a scene of the professor sitting at his desk, still hard at work, entirely wrapped up in reading textbooks and examining things under his microscope. The camera slowly pans down to Sharik, the dog, who lays on the floor in front of the professor’s desk with a bandaged head. Sharik once again narrates his thoughts, as he did at the beginning of the film, now of his luck in being able to remain in such a wonderful apartment. This shot dissolves into black as the first non-diagetic music of the film begins, setting a contemplative mood, causing the viewers to think more deeply of the potentially detrimental affects of transforming nature.

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