The Sunlit Night is a 2019 romantic comedy-drama film directed by David Wnendt [de], from a screenplay by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight, based on her 2015 novel of the same name.

It stars Jenny Slate (who also co-produced) as a New York painter finding herself on assignment in a remote village in Norway, with Alex Sharp, Fridtjov Såheim, David Paymer, Gillian Anderson, and Zach Galifianakis in supporting roles.

The Sunlit Night follows "American painter Frances and émigré Yasha — an unlikely pair who find each other in the Arctic circle.

Frances informs her sister Gabby that she showed up unannounced from the lake house of her boyfriend because she has broken up with him.

Her parents are also told of the bad news and her mom notices that Frances has a leech attached to her posterior.

While the mother removes the leech from the "best posterior in New York" Frances gets a text informing her that her residency in Tokyo went to another artist.

They drive past the locals, the Viking museum and archers practicing archery to an old barn which is in the process of being painted yellow.

Nils constantly discourages her enthusiasm by telling her not to use the word "amazing" to describe the "hard work" ahead of her.

One day she notices some people practicing archery and engaged in medieval arts like coloring yarn and making ancient weapons and armor.

She visits the museums and meets Haldor a gentleman from Cincinnati who takes the Viking lifestyle very seriously and thinks he is the Chief.

Haldor attempts to recite a Viking greeting but Yasha instead speaks about his father and what a good person he was.

As they are lying on the floor au natural the Norwegian Art Institute (NKI) representatives arrive to inspect the barn.

On May 3, 2018, it was announced that David Wnendt would direct an adaptation of Rebecca Dinerstein's novel The Sunlit Night.

Producers are set to include Jenny Slate, Fabian Gasmia, Ruben Thorkildsen, Michael B. Clark, and Alex Turtletaub.

Alongside the initial production announcement, it was confirmed that Jenny Slate, Alex Sharp, Zach Galifianakis, Gillian Anderson, Dan Puck and Jessica Hecht had been cast in the film.

The site's critical consensus reads: "Jenny Slate remains as charming as ever, but her winsome performance isn't enough to overcome The Sunlit Night's grating tone and meandering plot.

"[10] On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 47 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".