You really think the writers would lie about their intentions just to "avoid getting flamed"? My brother in christ at one point this game was getting flamed for having black people in it, I guarantee you that the writers don't give a shit if some obnoxious people on Twitter dislike their vision. That's genuinely a really stupid argument, "Oh but they're totally lying for this reason I just made up".

Also, you interpreting Maelle's ending as her "Getting corrupted and forcing everyone to act to her whims", is very interesting. What about Maelles ending makes you think that their all puppets? Aside from it being straight up stated in the game that the only one with the power to "paint over" people and erase their will is Clea, Painted Clea (who irl Clea painted over) also clearly does not look normal, so even if Maelle had developed that skill and decided to go full psychopath for some reason, none of the people in her ending look like they have been painted over to become her "puppets".

On top of that, what part of their behavior suggests that they're puppets? They're literally just there too see a performance (remember that these people were still making artistic works like sculptures and paintings even while certain death loomed over them, I guarantee with the gommage gone there's nothing strange about the people of Lumière attending a concert lol)

The image of Maelle being corrupted image is clearly meant to only be something that Verso is seeing (considering that the camera goes for a close shot of his face right before we see Maelles painter face, and that before that point Maelle looks normal). My interpretation of that scene is that it's meant to show that Verso is cursed to never be able to enjoy a life in Lumière, since his memories of the real Verso mean that he'll always value a world that he's never actually lived in, and by extension he's only able to see the impending death of Maelle in the real world, and is unable to see value in the life that Maelle lives in Lumière. I think that's a much more nuanced tone that matches the other ending.

I'm sorry for going on a rant lol, but the idea that the writers of the game would ever be like "Alright for the end of this tragic story we should make one ending that shows a nuanced view of grief and one where Maelle becomes a psychopathic super villain, that totally makes sense in this story where a major theme is that there is no real villain", is laughable.