The adventure of a man with his mother -in -law has become a viral film in the country where adultery is punished by imprisonment

For months, Indonesian spectators have been discussing a film: the norm, the story of a seemingly happy marriage, destroyed by the clandestine adventure of the husband with his mother -in -law.

It is the kind of intrigue that will always attract fans of melodrams. But what made the norm a national obsession is the fact that it is based on a real story that has gone viral.

In 2022, Norma Risma, a woman in the city of Serang on the island of Java in Indonesia, revealed the adventure between her husband and mother in a Tiktok video, notes BBC, quoted by News.ro.

Her story quickly collected millions of views, reached the front page of newspapers and eventually brought a contract for a movie that won South-East Asia.

The norm, which arrived in Indonesian cinemas in March and Netflix in August, quickly became one of the most watched films, not only in Indonesia, but also in Malaysia and Singapore, where there are numerous Muslim populations.

Also, the film follows a successful formula discovered by Indonesian filmmakers: adapting viral scandals on social networks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4ojstdb-ao

Movies inspired by posts on social media

Until June this year, the film with the largest receipts in Indonesia was KKN di Desa Penari, a 2022 horror film about the haunting of six students, which appeared from a popular thread on X. In 2023, Sewu Dino appeared, another horror film adapted from a story shared by the same account.

Equally popular are the stories with a more spicy content: Iphar Adalah Maut, a 2024 Indonesian film about an adventure between a man and his sister-in-law, was promoted as a true story adapted from a Tiktok video.

The Layangan dramatic series from 2022, about a family dismissed by an unfaithful husband, was also inspired by Tiktok.

Such themes are extremely taboo in Indonesia, where adultery is punished with imprisonment. The new Criminal Code of the country, which will enter into force at national level next year, prohibits sexual relations outside the marriage, and in the most conservative province, couples are already publicly punished with the whipping for sexual relations before marriage.

But, in this culture of religious conservatism, experts say, voyeuristic interest for domestic scandals is flourishing.

With the help of social networks, the stories that were largely limited to the gossip in the neighborhood now become viral content “Pelakor”, a slang term for “destroyer of marriages” and a keyword used in the videos where the spouses are facing the mistresses of their spouses.

“The films about these scandals provide people with a space in which they can look at the family problems of others,” says SM Gietty Tambunan, a member of the Jakarta Council Film Committee, for BBC Indonesia.

“Especially because of this conservative culture, people become even more curious,” he said.

The taste for the scandal

Vero, a 42 -year -old household in Jakarta, watched the story of the norm since he went viral on Tiktok. She made it “angry with her husband and mother,” she says for BBC Indonesia.

“When I found out that this story will be screened, I wanted to see how cruel these two people were normal,” she says.

At the cinema, he cried at the culminating moment of the film, when the norm slipped through the crowd gathered in front of his house to find his husband and mother naked in the room.

The tender scenes in which the husband and mother of the norm oppose and then realize their idyll have shocked and captivated the spectators.

“Certainly, after filming this, they will feel bad,” commented a Tiktok user about a scene in which the two kissed. In the film, a friend who discovers the illicit relationship of the two vomits when it catches them flagrantly.

Gietty warns that these narratives have a dangerous tendency to blame women, not unfaithful men. In these conflicts between the legitimate husband and the illicit lover, “the man tends to receive no punishment,” she says.

But what differentiates the film the norm is the involvement of the protagonist in the creative process, says the movie screenwriter, Oka Aurora, for BBC Indonesia. She is also the author of the scenario for Ipar Adalah Maut and Layangan Putus, the other two productions inspired by Tiktok.

After intense discussions with the norm about her feelings and her mother's story, “the basic story of the film remains largely consistent,” says Oka, although he added that “there are certainly certain parts that have been dramatized to play with the public's emotions.”

“This film is also a way for people to free their emotions and have fun. Thus, when they leave the cinema, they have things they feel and talk about,” Oka added.

The life of the norm

Today, the real norm works as an outsourced employee in Serang, her hometown.

Her mother, Rihanah, returned home to live with her family after atoning an eight -month prison for adultery. Rozy, the former husband of the norm, was sentenced to nine months in prison.

During a film conference for the film, in February, the norm said it was encouraged by the messages he received from other victims of the infidel spouses.

“When I lived [aventura]I thought: «Why am I deceived by the person closest to me? Am I the only one who goes through this? » It turned out that, when I spoke openly, many people lived the same experience, ”Norma said.

Oka, the movie screenwriter, resumes the feminist message behind the film. This is “a small step for women to speak openly about the infidelity and violence they face,” she says.

Gietty states that films like Norma, based on real stories about domestic problems, can serve as “a space for women” in a patriarchal society and can give them “courage to speak openly”.

The norm refused the interview requests of the BBC Indonesia, although he continues to share news from his life on his public media account, receiving the enthusiastic support of Indonesian fellow citizens.

This month, she posted on Tiktok photos with her and a cake sent by the film's production company. Posting received hundreds of good wishes.

“You deserve the whole world,” a user wrote.

Another comment said: “Mrs. Norma, after seeing the story of your life at the cinema, I wanted to hug you.”

Photo source: dreamstime.com