Liquid crystal display element

The present invention provides a liquid crystal display element of reflection and transmission joining type, which shows high contrast and high transmitivity in a transmission display mode and further reconciles high contrast with high reflectivity even in a reflection display mode. The inventive liquid crystal display element has a light-transmissive first substrate 1, a second substrate 2 which contains a reflection region 5 and a transmission region 6 and on which a pixel 4 is formed and liquid crystal 3 held by the first substrate 1 and the second substrate 2 joined to each other via a clearance. The liquid crystal 3 is aligned perpendicularly to the substrates 1, 2 in a voltage unapplied state. A pair of retardation films 8, 9 are arranged so as to hold the perpendicularly aligned liquid crystal 3 therebetween. A pair of retardation films 8, 9 have phase characteristics symmetrical to each other over a wavelength band of a visible region. More specifically, a pair of retardation films 8, 9 have lagging axes crossing each other and a crossing angle is set in a range of 90 DEG ± 10 DEG. Relative deviation of phase difference between a pair of retardation films 8, 9 is restrained within ± 30 nm.