Lady Dimitrescu on the Phone

What the image shows

A close-up of a video game character. A pale woman with dark lipstick looks off to the side with pursed lips. On her head is an enormous black hat with a wide brim, she wears pearl earrings, a layered necklace, and a dark floral brooch at her shoulder. With a gloved hand she holds to her ear an antique telephone receiver on a coiled cord, and behind her are gilded wall panels and a heavy door.

The expression is easy to read: restrained displeasure, fatigue and readiness to endure. It is exactly this restraint that makes the image so versatile: the character does not shout, she listens, and the viewer is left to imagine what she is being told.

The game and the scene the image comes from

Lady Dimitrescu is one of the main antagonists of Resident Evil Village, the eighth main installment of the series, released in May 2021. She is the lady of Castle Dimitrescu, a towering vampire who generated a wave of interest even before the release. According to reviews, in the scene Ethan overhears the character's phone call with Mother Miranda, which grows more and more tense and ends in a burst of rage and scattered furniture.

The image entered memes almost immediately after the game's release. According to reference data, the cutscene fragment was uploaded to YouTube on 18 May 2021, and mass spread began around 22 May, when the Twitter user @DullVivid posted screenshots with a caption about how to psych yourself up before a phone call. The post quickly gathered tens of thousands of reposts and hundreds of thousands of likes. That this post came first is supported by only one reference source, so “one of the first known” is more accurate than “the first”.

The meme quickly went beyond gaming communities: the caption about fear of phone calls is understood even by people who have never played Resident Evil.

Two ways to joke

The first is phone anxiety. The image is captioned as the state one is in before dialing the number of a doctor, a delivery service or a client. The joke relies on something recognizable: many people put off calls and prefer to send messages.

The second is an imaginary dialogue. The heroine is “connected” with other fictional characters, and the other side's lines are invented by the users. According to reviews, in the first wave these were characters from other games, cartoons and internet jokes. The format stays the same: the other party is shown separately, and at the center is Lady Dimitrescu with a stony face.

Caption examples

Example 1. “When on the other end of the line: ‘It's me again, about that tiny little edit.’” The humor rests on expectation: the heroine already knows the edit will not be tiny, and the face in the picture confirms it without words.

Example 2. “Mom calls and asks why I haven't answered her four messages.” The joke works through the familiarity of a domestic situation and the contrast between a majestic vampire and a petty family drama.

Example 3. “Me, while the support bot asks me to choose a menu option for the fifth time.” The heroine's exaggerated patience matches the way people clench their teeth in such a situation.

Example 4. “Accounting: just a small question about your vacation.” A short caption with no extra words: the image sets the tone, and the words only name the reason.

How to use it

It suits stories about calls, waiting and forced politeness. It also works well without any text as a reply to someone else's message about unpleasant news.

If you add your own caption, it is better to pick situations in which the heroine only listens: the image conveys silent tension, not an active dialogue.