Norman Loves Rose
1982 film by Henri Safran
Norman Loves Rose is a 1982 Australian comedy film about a teenage boy who begins a relationship with an adult woman. It was written and directed by Henri Safran as the follow-up to 1976's Storm Boy.
Plot summary
Norman is a 13-year-old Jewish boy living in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. His brother Michael is married to a woman named Rose, who he has failed to impregnate due to a low sperm count. Meanwhile, Michael's colleague Charles has recently left his ex-wife, Maureen, to date a younger model. Norman develops an infatuation with Rose which she encourages, taking him on dates, sharing a bed with him and developing a relationship. Rose eventually does become pregnant and the film heavily implies that Norman is the father. She tells him that they must keep their "little secret." As she gains weight during pregnancy, Norman loses interest in her anyway and begins pursuing Maureen instead.
Cast
Carol Kane as Rose
Tony Owen as Norman
Myra De Groot as Mother
David Downer as Michael
Barry Otto as Charles
Sandy Gore as Maureen
Warren Mitchell as Morris
Louise Pajo as Shirley
Johnny Lockwood as Sam
Reception
Sandra Hall in The Bulletin said, "the comedy relies on a certain amount of obtuseness, literal mindedness, double-takes and talking at cross-purposes. The characters are there to be laughed at, not with, and to that end much over-acting is done.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Norman Loves Rose” is 1982 film by Henri Safran. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Norman, Loves and Rose, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “1982 film by Henri Safran” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7052513. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1982 and 1976.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Norman Loves Rose” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.