Nineteen years of marriage, and the detail that says everything about them was unknown until this week. Javier Bardem appeared for the first time on the Spanish show "La Revuelta" and, in among the conversation about his new film, said what no interview had managed to pull out of him before: what the first date with Penélope Cruz actually was.

"Nineteen years ago, our first date was a weekend trip to London. On Saturday we saw the Rolling Stones, on Sunday Prince. And we have been married for nineteen years," he said.

Not a restaurant, not a coffee, not a one-hour trial to see whether there is something there. Straight onto a plane and two concerts. That is a decision that either binds you permanently or separates you within three days, and here it clearly did the former.

The two of them first met back in 1992, on the set of "Jamón, jamón" - the film Cruz debuted in. The chemistry was visible even then, but nothing happened. Their paths crossed again in 2007, filming Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona". Fifteen years between the first meeting and the start of the relationship. Around here that usually means one of them is already married.

Bardem did not start out in acting. He studied fine art and wanted to be a painter, and took work as an extra to support himself. What is now considered one of the most important acting careers in European cinema began as a way to pay the bills.

The two are now in front of the camera together again, in Florian Zeller's film "The Bunker", screened this year at the Venice film festival. The ovation lasted fifteen and a half minutes. Bardem is at the same time promoting "Beloved", Rodrigo Sorogoyen's film, in which he plays a father with a difficult relationship with his daughter. The opening scene was shot in a real restaurant with hidden cameras, and the dialogue was improvised for two hours without a break.

Nineteen years on, the story they tell is not about the red carpet. It is a weekend in London and two concerts - and apparently, that was enough.