An Indonesian film inspired by aa sensational real-life scandal has become one of the country’s most talked-about releases.
Norma, which premiered in cinemas in March and landed on Netflix in August, tells the story of a seemingly happy marriage destroyed by a husband’s affair with his mother-in-law.
The plot mirrors the true-life experience of Norma Risma, a woman from Serang City in Java who in 2022 exposed her husband’s relationship with her mother in a viral TikTok video.
Her posts drew millions of views and led to a movie deal that has captivated audiences across Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Singapore.
Norma follows a trend in Indonesia’s film industry of adapting social media scandals for the screen. Previous blockbusters include KKN di Desa Penari, a horror film based on a viral X (formerly Twitter) thread; Sewu Dino, from the same account; and Ipar Adalah Maut, a 2024 drama about a man’s affair with his sister-in-law adapted from TikTok. The hit 2022 series Layangan Putus also drew from social media.
These stories tap into sensitive themes in Indonesia, where adultery carries legal penalties and the new criminal code set to take effect next year will outlaw sex outside marriage nationwide. In Aceh province, public flogging for premarital sex already takes place.
Analysts say that despite — or because of — the country’s religious conservatism, public appetite for salacious domestic scandals is growing. Content creators routinely post videos of wives confronting their husbands’ mistresses under the trending keyword pelakor (Indonesian slang for “homewrecker”).
“Films like these give audiences a way to peek into someone else’s household problems,” SM Gietty Tambunan of the Jakarta Arts Council’s Film Committee told BBC Indonesian. “Especially in a conservative culture, curiosity about such stories becomes stronger.”
