A retardation plate having a high film strength and having an optical
property is provided by using a biaxial liquid crystal compound, in which
the direction having a minimum refractive index of the optically
anisotropic thin layer almost coincides with the normal direction in the
film plane of the retardation plate, and the retardation plate comprises
a transparent support and at least one optically anisotropic layer
containing a liquid crystal compound capable of expressing a biaxial
liquid crystal phase, wherein the liquid crystal compound is a
polymerizable compound and/or a polymer compound.