Were we meant to take, and interpret, this movie literally or metaphorically?

I mean, a lot of this film if not all of it does seem like it maybe interpreted literally, but then, combined with that ending, which many people interpreted as Lomax' dream and how symbolic it mostly seems to me, it can be read metaphorically about the dark sides of the "lawyer" profession and how in order to succeed and do their job, they must "sell their souls to the Devil", so to speak.

When I first saw the movie I actually took the plot too literally and straightforward, about how it is basically about how a lawyer finds out that the main lawyer and owner of the law firm he meets happens to be the Devil and how this entails all sorts of trouble and how he must survive etc if not battle him, but many years and viewings later, I began to realize the symbols and metaphors contained within and how although yes it can be taken literally and at face value, it can also be viewed as a metaphor for those aforementioned things.

In many ways also, the movie, taking places in its own universe, is almost like a supernatural, horror and fantasy version of many familiar events that happen in our world and real life, including various aspects tied to the lawyer profession. Albeit this movie often puts a supernatural twist on them, for instance, its often the case in reality how victims of such violence that Charlize Theron's Mary Ann character experiences are often disbelieved and are difficult to prove etc but this movie adds the fantasy touch of having a supernatural evil being do it and in a fantasy manner of apparently also being able to be in two places at once.

Or the various aspects relating to human conscience, decision making, free will, law, capitalism, religion, choices, career, family, friends, temptations, mental illness, peer pressure, gender roles in society and the world in general. Or even good and evil.

And although it may seem like a plot hole, but its also interesting how at times even when characters experience contact with the supernatural evil as is portrayed in the movie, they still find and have time to worry about their own personal problems and what wrong decisions they may have made, although maybe for instance, some of them were not yet sure, like Mary Ann's character in that fashion store when she saw that demon face on that lady, if they were just hallucinations or real, and were maybe afraid to find out but did and it became too late.

Anyways, what do you think, thanks.