The Front Populaire? They knew it well, in its original form, long before France's left-wing parties formed a new alliance under that name. At the time, they were in their 20s, the age of suitors, marriage and first child. Even more astonishing: these 36 people were already born in early August 1914, when Germany declared war on France. Today, 35 women and one man aged between 110 and 114 live in France.

The French National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) calls them "supercentenarians" in a study published in April – "Vivre Au-Delà de 105 Ans: Quand l'Improbable Devient Réalité" ("Life Beyond 105: When the Unlikely Becomes Reality"). Among today's 31,000 centenarians, wrote the researchers, "recent years have seen the emergence of a new age group, that of 105 and over, whose number was estimated at nearly 2,000 in France on January 1, 2023." The older generation. Within it, "reaching 110 remains a rare event," we read, "but its frequency has also increased significantly in recent decades."

The first "death defiers" aged 110 and over were first counted in the mid-1960s. "In France, there were five in the 1990s, around 10 or so 20 years ago, around 20 in the 2010s, and they are now approaching 40. The increase is exponential, at the same rate as that of centenarians," noted demographer and epidemiologist Jean-Marie Robine. "Even if mortality among the over-90s declines only slightly, in 60 years' time there will be as many supercentenarians as centenarians today. What counts is the number of candidates at the start of the race for longevity." Indeed, INSEE predicts that there will be over 200,000 centenarians on the starting line in 2070.

What's life like once the number 110 is stuck on the birthday cake? Speaking with Denise Leroy, who turns 111 on July 3, and six families of supercentenarians (including that of Marie-Rose Tessier, 114, the oldest living person in France), you enter a very unfamiliar world. Here, the children are in their nineties and, visiting their mother at the retirement home, meet residents their own age. The grandchildren introduced themselves on the phone with a startling: "I'm the granddaughter, I'm 72." Four generations of descendants are counted with care, trying not to confuse great-grandchildren with great-great-grandchildren.

They talk about President Armand Fallières (1906-1913), the airships of 1914 to 1918, the Titanic. A widow for the past 81 years, Marie-Rose Tessier enjoyed a "very pleasant retirement in the 1980s," according to her granddaughter. A 112-year-old former schoolteacher, Aline Blain lives in the same retirement home as some of her former students, who are now aged over 80. Catholic families found it hard to accept that their daughter was dating an atheist. They talked about washing their faces in brandy, doing the laundry in the river and traveling by cart. "My mother is a window into the past," said Pierre-Yves Leroy, 76, one of Denise's four sons.

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