A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display element capable of easily improving response characteristics without using a large apparatus is provided. After alignment films made of a polymer compound including a crosslinkable functional group as a side chain and a bulky skeleton such as an adamantane skeleton are formed in a TFT substrate and a CF substrate, the alignment films are arranged to face each other, and a liquid crystal layer 40 including liquid crystal molecules is sealed between the alignment films, and then, in a state where the liquid crystal molecules are aligned to allow long-axis directions thereof to be oblique with respect to a substrate surface, the polymer compound in the alignment films is reacted to form a polymer compound including a cross-linked structure, and predetermined pretilts are provided to liquid crystal molecules placed in proximity to the alignment films.