>>109286629>>109287173The relationship always struck me this way: Breakfast at Tiffany's is very much the story of the experience of a young, beautiful, single woman in the big city, and how women are drawn to the kind of lifestyle that affords them glitz and glam, but also a level of anonymity. A place to hide, as well as to be seen. That's why Holly Golightly is compared to a cat, esp at the end of the movie. She's cute, cuddly, and approachable on the one hand, but on the other, she's a stray - running from a bad past and a life she wants to leave behind. And the city gives her a chance to live a life with no strings attached, totally independent and free from connections. She's surrounded by a buzzing social life, and at the same time, is totally alone.
Selina deals with the same paradox, resorting to the life of a thief (instead of a call girl) to escape a life of poverty that she came from. She wields the same power women in her situation have - she's clever, sophisticated, beautiful, and desirable, but also shares the same vulnerabilities as well - being alone, desperate almost to rise up in the world. She loves the thrill of the lifestyle, but also nurses its emptiness, which is a sign of her own insecurity. That, I think is what Bruce sees, and explains the tension between the two of them. Crime is what decides them, but her life of crime is only a sign of her deeper strength and vulnerability.
