A liquid crystal apparatus includes a liquid crystal panel and drive means for driving the liquid crystal panel. The liquid crystal panel includes a pair of oppositely disposed substrates each having an electrode thereon, an alignment film disposed over the electrode on at least one of the substrates, and a liquid crystal disposed between the substrates; the liquid crystal being composed of a plurality of liquid crystal layers each composed of a plurality of liquid crystal molecules. The drive means is suitable for applying to the liquid crystal an electric field insufficient to cause a switching of the liquid crystal but sufficient to cause a reversible change of the liquid crystal layers into a bookshelf structure. As a result, the liquid crystal panel can be provided with a good switching characteristic while effectively suppressing deleterious liquid crystal molecular movement.