A
liquid crystal cell of bend alignment mode or
hybrid alignment mode should be optically compensated suitably enough to display an image of
high contrast. In the displayed image, change of
hue is little, and no inversion of
gradation is observed. In a
liquid crystal display having a
liquid crystal cell of bend alignment mode and a pair of polarizing plates, one of the polarizing plates comprises a polarizing membrane and two optically anisotropic
layers. A first optically anisotropic layer is made from discotic compounds oriented in
hybrid alignment, and is placed so that a direction giving the maximum
refractive index in plane may be essentially at 45° to a transmission axis
in plane of the polarizing membrane. The second optically anisotropic layer consists of a
cellulose ester film, and is placed so that a direction giving the maximum
refractive index in plane may be essentially parallel or perpendicular to a transmission axis in plane of the polarizing membrane. The
liquid crystal cell of bend alignment mode and the first and second optically anisotropic
layers have appropriate optical characters measured at any
wavelength of 450 nm, 550 nm and 630 nm. Similar optical characters are also effective in a
liquid crystal cell of
hybrid alignment mode.