Disclosed are an extremely thin liquid crystal panel and liquid crystal display, each of which has a high contrast ratio in an oblique direction, a little light leakage, and a small color shift in an oblique direction. Specifically disclosed is a liquid crystal panel comprising a liquid crystal cell; a first polarizer, an optical element (A) and an optical element (B) arranged on one side of the liquid crystal cell; and a second polarizer arranged on the other side of the liquid crystal cell. The optical element (A) has an index ellipsoid satisfying the relationship of nx > nz > ny and is composed of a specific polycyclic compound, while having an Nz coefficient of 0.05-0.45. The optical element (B) has an index ellipsoid satisfying the relationship of nx > nz > ny and an Nz coefficient of 0.55-0.95.