So far, there has been little research on irony in film within academia, even though it repeatedly emerges as a crucial characteristic of cinematic representations in modern and postmodern contexts in texts and critiques. This analysis of the forms of irony in film attempts, for the first time in German-speaking film studies, a comprehensive systematization of the phenomenon. Special attention is given to the dynamic manifestations of cinematic irony - its forms of expression: at times it appears cynical and melancholic, perhaps as a satirical reference to contemporary political discourses, while at other times it engages playfully with genre predecessors. Selina Hangartner explores these definitions and dimensions of cinematic irony, examining the terminology and concepts in case studies of David Lynch's Wild at Heart.