To provide a ferroelectric liquid crystal device having a switching response which can clearly distinguish between a switching state and a non- switching state.

A ferroelectric liquid crystal device has a ferroelectric liquid crystal cell 1 in which a liquid crystal layer composed of a ferroelectric liquid crystal material 2 is held between two transparent glass substrates 3, 4 and which is equipped with alignment layers 9, 10 to determine the surface alignment of molecules of the liquid crystal material 2. Moreover, the ferroelectric liquid crystal device has a switching circuit configuration which switches the liquid crystal material between a first state and a second state with a switching signal having a pulse width τ and a voltage V. The liquid crystal material 2 and the alignment layers 9, 10 are constructed so that the cell 1 exhibit a τ-V response in the τ-V curve shape which has two minimal points and an intermediate maximal point located between the both minimal points.