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Indonesian movie about man’s affair with mum-in-law, based on a true story, now No. 2 on Netflix S’pore
Sometimes life is stranger than fiction.
August 21, 2025, 05:22 PM
Indonesian film "Norma: Antara Mertua Dan Menantu" (Norma: Between In-laws and In-laws), a film based on the true story of Norma Risma, is the number two film streaming in Singapore on Netflix.
The 2025 film recounts the life of Norma Risma, who divorced her husband due to his extramarital affair with his mother-in-law, Norma's biological mother.
Photo by Apang Photography.
Here's the film synopsis:
"The destruction of a household causes heartbreak, even more painful if the cause is the betrayal of the mother-in-law and son-in-law."
Norma's personal life garnered widespread attention after popular YouTube personality Denny Sumargo interviewed her in December 2022.
In the 89-minute-long interview, she shared how she was betrayed by her loved ones, her ex-husband Rozy and her mother Rihanah.
The affair came to light after their neighbours raided their home while Rozy and Rihanah were being intimate.
Norma also claimed that she was a victim of domestic violence throughout the marriage.
How did they meet?
Norma and her ex-husband met in 2017 while they were still in high school.
They got married four years later in 2021.
While the film depicts Norma's discovery of the affair after the marriage, the reality is quite the opposite.
In the interview, Norma said that she found out about the affair in 2020 while looking through Rozy's WhatsApp messages.
"When I opened the chat [between my mother and him], the messages were sexually suggestive.
[...]
My mother texted that she just got out of the shower and is about to put on her clothes and he responded by asking for a video call."
When Norma confronted Rozy about these messages, Rozy claimed that it was all a misunderstanding.
In a separate incident, Norma also claimed to have seen messages sent from her mother to Rozy where she recounted the time they got intimate during the fasting month.
Norma shared the chat messages with her father, who subsequently confronted Rozy and Rihanah.
Still had feelings
While Rihanah denied the allegations, Rozy began apologising and claimed that he loves Norma.
Despite asking her to end the relationship with Rozy, Norma ignored her father's advice.
She still had feeling for Rozy as he was her first love.
"My father was put in a spot too, because I'm his only daughter.
If he refused to let me continue with the relationship, what if I had gone crazy?"
She reasoned with her father that Rozy could change.
Moved out
After getting married in April 2021, Norma and Rozy moved into a rented home.
This move, however, was met with much resistance from Rihanah.
Norma claimed that Rihanah cursed at her a lot and was very angry about their decision to move out.
Living in separate homes, however, didn't stop Rihanah and Rozy from continuing their affair.
Caught by neighbours
According to Kompas, their neighbours have been suspicious of Rihanah's frequent visits to her son-in-law's place since October 2022.
Some neighbours observed that Rihanah's chicken noodle stall was closed every time she came over to their rented home.
Eventually, a neighbour peeked through the home's air vent and saw Rihanah and Rozy in a state of undress.
In November 2022, her neighbours raided the home and reported the illicit affair to the resident chief.
After the neighbours confronted the two of them, Rozy claimed that he wanted to go to the toilet while Rihanah was caught in the room in just her undergarments.
"My mother was still in the room. If I'm not wrong, she was caught just in her bra and she didn't have her panties on," Norma said in the interview.
Norma, who works from day to night, was not present when the raid happened.
Norma smeared Rozy's "good name"
Norma officially filed for divorce and reported her ex-husband and mother for suspected adultery to the police.
In January 2023, Rozy's lawyers said that his "good name" has been smeared after Norma's story went viral.
According to Tribun, Rozy reported Norma under Indonesia's ITE (Electronic Information Transactions) law because of her viral social media exposé.
Accusing Norma of slander, his lawyers also told her to repent after exposing her biological mother.
In May 2024, Rozy was sentenced to nine months in jail, while Rihanah was sentenced to eight months in jail.
Norma lives with her father
Speaking to the media in February 2025, Norma shared that she now lives with her father.
Her father has also divorced Rihanah.
She also refused to share further details about her relationship with Rihanah, out of respect for her biological mother.
"As for my relationship with my mother, only people close to me should know about it. [...] I'm still her daughter and she's still my mother."
Top image from Apang Photography and Dee Company on Instagram
