An elliptically polarizing plate including: a polarizer; and an optical film that includes a laminate of: a retardation film A that includes a cyclic polyolefin resin-containing thermoplastic polymer and has uniaxially-aligned positive refractive-index anisotropy characterized by nx>ny.apprxeq.nz; and a retardation film B that is fixed to homeotropic alignment and has positive refractive-index anisotropy characterized by nz1>nx1.apprxeq.ny1, wherein the optical film is laminated on one side of the polarizer in such a manner that a slow axis of the retardation film A is perpendicular to an absorption axis of the polarizer. The elliptically polarizing plate can suppress a reduction in contrast at wide viewing angles when applied to in-plane switching mode active matrix liquid crystal displays, and can be highly effective for improvements against color shift.