When age opens doors

Owning her place

Suzi's years across Hong Kong, New York and France have also shaped how she thinks about identity. For much of her life, she tried to work out where she belonged. Over time, she realized the search was not about finding a country or a place to call home.

"What I was looking for was myself," she said. "I feel most at peace with myself."

That answer may resonate with young people facing anxieties about identity, appearance and age, but Suzi does not pretend that self-acceptance, once found, comes effortlessly or lasts forever. Some days are less peaceful than others. Her message to her 20-year-old self — and to young women now — is simple: trust yourself, ask questions, be kinder to yourself and surround yourself with people who appreciate you.

That self-acceptance matters especially in an industry built around appearance. Even as an established older model, Suzi describes holding her ground as a continuing battle: asserting that she has a place and deserves it.

Her next chapter may return to the medium that helped her through grief: writing. She has taken a workshop and is interested in exploring this further, drawn to the introspective nature it offers.

"Writing is a very interesting process because you do learn a lot about yourself," she said.

At Cannes, Suzi arrived as neither a filmmaker nor an industry expert. She came as a model, reader, cinema lover, mother, widow, grandmother and a woman who remains curious about what might come next.

That may be the clearest thread running through her life. Beginning again, for Suzi, is not about erasing what came before or pretending age does not matter. It is about refusing to see age as the end of possibility — and being willing to enter the next unfamiliar room as a student.