I couldn't make the same mistake in writing the film. I don't like to give you a literal back history. You'll get it. It's funny how much people pick up. People are more perceptive than American films will allow.
People are smarter than flimmakers want to believe.
The Hollywood Reporter described Alice as an alcoholic. I think whoever wrote the review brought that idea to it. And Box Office Magazine described David Gold's name as allegorical, presumably because he'd been defeated by the forces of Mammon. The movie was always intended to be a fable about real, hard truths, and that's a hard thing to go for. I was thinking of the kind of towns represented in children's books when I was little.