"O Fortuna",
a.k.a. "
Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi", was used as the
leitmotif of
John Boorman's 1981 film
Excalibur, based on the
legend of
King Arthur - it is used in the introductory sequence, when
Uther manages to
have his way with
Igraine in the guise of her husband, thus begetting
Arthur.
The usage of "O Fortuna" in Excalibur also gives a hint as to Boorman's personal view of Fate. There is a dark, brooding tone to the sequences in which Boorman uses the song - he apparently felt that the vagaries of fate, to which the song is a hymn, were grounds for depression, rather than elation.