In the opening scene of the upcoming film The Sunlit Night, New York painter Frances (Jenny Slate) endures a brutal critique of her work from three critics—possibly her instructors—which leads her to take on an apprenticeship with an artist halfway across the world in Norway. That artist, Nils (Fridtjov Såheim), is painting a barn, mostly in shades of yellow, as an art piece. While there, Frances meets another American—a Cincinnatian played by Zach Galifianakis—who works at the nearby Viking museum. She also makes the acquaintance of a local grocery-store employee who later poses nude for her, inspiring Frances’ best creative work. The painter also meets a young Russian American man named Yasha (Alex Sharp) who’s determined to fulfill his dead father’s wish to have a Viking funeral; later, he and Frances sleep together in the yellow barn, where Nils and some Norwegian government inspectors discover them. In the end, Frances returns to New York with new sense of purpose and a promising new direction for her art.

The movie is based on the 2015 novel of the same name by Rebecca Dinerstein, which features Frances, Nils, Yasha, and the yellow barn—but the art critics, the American museum employee, the grocery-store worker, and the tryst in the barn are nowhere to be found. It would seem that the author (who now goes by her married name, Rebecca Dinerstein Knight) saw fit to make several changes when she adapted her book to the screen—and the film is much better for it.

The novel alternates between Frances’ narration and a third-person narrative about Yasha, his father, and his estranged mother. The film, however, concentrates mainly on Frances’ story; indeed, it’s told almost solely from her point of view, which makes it feel more streamlined and focused. It also allows the film to lean heavily on Slate’s considerable personal charm as an actor. In the book, the fact that Frances is a painter feels like a narrative device to get her to Norway; in the film, her search for her voice as an artist is a central theme, and Slate sells it wonderfully.

Several minor characters in the novel are cut as well, such as Frances’ loathsome ex-boyfriend, who’s only mentioned in passing; several Viking museum employees; and Yasha’s Russian uncle. Others, such as Frances’ difficult parents (David Paymer and Jessica Hecht) and Yasha’s colorful mother (an amusing Gillian Anderson) get a lot less time onstage, which has the paradoxical effect of making their occasional appearances that much more memorable.

Other changes are subtler but improve the film significantly. In the novel, Frances and Yasha are 21 and 17 years old, respectively, which gives their sexual dalliance an unpleasant ick factor (“He was about to turn eighteen, I reassured myself”). In the movie, the characters’ ages aren’t stated, but Slate is 38 and Sharp is 31; they’re unquestionably consenting adults.

Director David Wnendt and cinematographer Martin Ahlgren lavish attention on the Norwegian setting, and it’s simply gorgeous to look at; the yellow barn, in particular, is exquisite, and words alone can’t do it justice. Indeed, this film adaptation, which will be available to view on demand on July 17, doesn’t just do the novel justice—it does it a service. In a brisk 82 minutes, it does what the very best adaptations do: It shines a light on its source material’s strengths, and casts the rest into darkness.

David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.